Warriors of Madagascar
by PenguinsOfMadagascar
Summary: Kowalski made another invention, but what will happen when the lemurs take it before the penguins could find out what it could do? I suck at summaries but I hope the story is better than the summary. Please read. Rated T just in case. Complete!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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It was a peaceful day; the kind of day Skipper liked. He was taking sips from his morning coffee while he watched Private and Rico play cards. He laughed when Rico threw up a bomb which caused Private to turn frightened eyes on the leader, who just laughed and licked his flipper, putting out the fuze before the whole lair blew up. Rico was bursting out laughing so much that he fell out of his chair and onto the floor.

"It's not funny, Rico!" Private screamed, the fear obvious in his voice. "You almost killed us all!"

Skipper waddled to him and wrapped his flipper around him. "It's okay, young private. If anything that bomb would have just killed you. You were the closest," he continued when Private turned scared eyes on him, but before he could say anything else the door to Kowalski's lab open and the tall penguin ran out.

"I did it!" he yelled, coming to a halt in front of his friends.

The other penguins glanced at each other, until finally Private asked," Did what?"

Skipper could see that the strategist was over excited to be telling his friends what he had to been working on, but he walked into his lab and returned calmly with a strange looking object. The leader looked closer. He could see random objects that would be laying around the house: rubber bands, a half of a can, a box. Then he saw that there were lots of wires and buttons. However, he had no idea what it could do.

Placing his coffee cup on the table, Skipper asked," What does it do?"

Kowalski open his beak about to reply, when suddenly a familiar voice called down to them. "Hey penguins!"

Skipper felt his flippers fold into fists as he turned around to see the lemurs looking down at him through the hole on the platform. _What do they want now?_ he wondered as he waddled over there. "What?" he asked out loud, looking up at them.

Julien just shrugged, as if he was bored. "We just wanted to be seeing what you silly penguins were up to," he replied. Maurice stepped back as his king jumped through the hole, but the aye-aye was right behind him; Mort appeared last, running right to his king and wrapping his body around his feet. Anger flashed in his eyes as he kicked the little lemur off him, making him slam into the table. Mort just jumped back up and ran back to his friends.

Skipper rolled his eyes and turned back to the lemurs. "We don't have time for you today, Ringtail," he told the king, pointing to Kowalski. "He was about to tell us about his new invention when you interrupted."

The king, however, didn't seem to care that he interrupted the penguins conversation though. He just causally scrolled over to the smart penguin and looked at the thing he was holding. "Oh?" He grabbed the object before Kowalski could stop him and started looking at it. "What is this?" he asked, looking at the penguins.

"It's not for you, that's what it is." Skipper turned to his team. "Get him!" Suddenly his team jumped into action and pounced onto the lemur, but he was faster still. The king used his powerful legs to jump over the penguins and land beside Maurice, handing him Kowalski's invention.

"Quick, Maurice!" the king ordered, running up the ladder, but not before throwing Mort in front of the penguins.

Rico caught the little lemur and looked down at him. Mort laughed and said," I'm a distraction!" The psychopath threw him sideways and turned to his leader for the next order.

"After them, men!"

Quickly, the penguins ran after the lemurs, but when they got topside they couldn't see them anymore.

"Where could they have gone?" Private pondered, looking around.

"Skipper! Look!" Kowalski pointed across the zoo.

Turning around, Skipper saw the lemurs running toward the park. "Come on boys!" He started doing flips and landed out of the habitat; thumps behind him told him that his team was following him. He fell to his stomach and started sliding to the entrance to the zoo, his eyes glued on the lemurs the whole time. He was so close now. He reached out, about to grab Maurice's feet when suddenly they jumped onto the tables and onto the buildings, jumping from roof to roof. He skid to a halt. His team stopped beside him.

He turned to Kowalski. "Options," he ordered.

The smart penguin thought for a moment. "We could try–"He walked to Rico and whispered something to him and he coughed up something–"a rubber band and sticks to make us go faster so we can reach them before they get out of the zoo."

Skipper nodded, and order Private and Rico to hold the sticks down while Skipper and Kowalski pushed the rubber band back. Kowalski counted, then finally nodded and they lifted their feet. Skipper felt the wind rush through his feathers as he flew through the air. Then he landed at the zoo entrance. Looking up, he saw the lemurs still making their way over the buildings.

_We made it here before them! _he cheered. _What would we do without Kowalski? _He was afraid to know the answer to that question. But luckily he didn't have time to think about it. He got into a ready position as the lemurs jumped off the buildings and came to a halt when they saw the penguins.

"That's far enough, lemurs!" Skipper said. "Where do you think you are going with that anyways?"

Julien started laughing, taking the invention from Maurice. "Relax, silly penguin," he said, walking to Skipper. "We were only having a bit of fun. We were so bored. But you can have it back."

"Good," Kowalski said. "You can't handle that kind of power."

Julien glared at him. "You can't tell me what I _can't _do!" He snatch the object back just as Skipper was about to grab it back from him. The lead penguin growled at Kowalski which made him whimper and back away.

Private and Rico arrived just in time to hear what Julien said.

"But Julien, it's Kowalski's invention," Private object. "Only he knows how to use it."

"I know how to use it too!" the king object. He looked at the buttons. "See!" Before anyone could stop him, he pushed a random button and a bright light surrounded the zoo animals. Skipper knew nothing more.

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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The sound of water broke into Skipper's dreamless sleep. Groaning, he tried to get up, feeling his whole body ache. His legs felt shaky, but he forced himself to stay up right as he blinked open his eyes. At first his version was blurry. It was a few moments til he was finally able to see. He gasped and spun around, but he tripped over his own feet.

He saw trees all around him, and when he looked sideways he saw the source of the water sound. A small stream was going by, the current going by slowly, the sound nice and smoothing. Well it would be if Skipper wasn't freaking out. _Where am __I__? _he wondered, spinning around. But his legs got tangled up and he fell face down into leaf mold.

Disgusted, he jumped back up and shook his head, wondering why he was so off balance. Then he noticed something laying beside him. At first he just thought it was one of the lemurs, but when he looked closer, he saw that it was bigger and more muscular than them but it still had the same colors as the lemur king.

He knew he had to figure out what it has so he took a deep breath and slowly walked over there, but shortly coming to a halt, noticing that he was closer to the ground. He looked down and let out a scream when he saw a furry paw instead of web feet.

His scream made the unknown creature lift his head and look at him, narrowing his eyes. Skipper instantly tried to get into a fighting position, standing on his back feet and putting up his hands to defend him, but he lost his balance and fell on his back. When he looked up, he saw the creature towering over him. _There's something awfully familiar about those yellow eyes..._

"Hello, silly kitty cat," the cat said and it came back to him.

"Ringtail!" he yelled, getting to his feet and shaking the dust off him.

The king widen his eyes. "Silly _penguin?" _he questioned. "But you are being a cat? How?"

Shaking his head, Skipper found it hard to answer that. Then he remember. _Kowalski! _He glanced around and saw more cats laying about. Three black-and-white cats and two more that Skipper saw was the other lemurs. He ran to his team and looked down at them, noticing that one of them looked bigger than all the rest. He shook awake that one.

Kowalski lifted his head and stared up at his commanding officer for a few moments, before asking," My invention?"

Skipper nodded and stepped back as the he got to his paws. He shook his head and looked around, widened his eyes. He seemed speechless, but Skipper wasn't.

"Oh Kowalski," he began, beginning to pace, still a little off balance," you really did it this time! How are we going to get back now? And it's not even the problem of getting back!" Skipper stopped in front of the strategist and flicked his tail in his face. "Your invention turned us into cats!" By this time, Private, Rico, and the other lemurs were awake. They were gathering around as Skipper yelled at Kowalski.

"I think it's pretty neat, Skippah," Private said, looking at his front paws in turn, then wriggling his tail in his face and giggling. He stopped goofing around when Skipper glared at him.

"Hey, it wasn't Kowalski's fault!" Maurice pointed out, turning on his king. "It was his!"

Anger flashed in Julien's eyes. "How dare you, Maurice?" Skipper looked in surprise as Julien's claws slipped out; he began to wonder if the king would actually attack his advisor. He didn't want to take any chances though, so he ran in front them and said," I guess it doesn't matter whose fault it is. We just need to start figuring out how to get out of here."

He turned to Rico and went on," Start throwing up stuff Kowalski could use to build an invention to get us home."

Nodding, the crazy bird started hacking, but nothing came out. Everyone stared at him in surprise as he kept trying; still nothing. Skipper could start to see panic in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said," Okay, okay, so Rico, can't throw up anything. We'll have to–"

He was interrupted by a yowl coming from the forest and everyone turn to see three cats running toward them, a golden tabby in the lead. Skipper took a few steps til he was in front of his team, ready to protect them if he had to. He glanced at the lemurs and sighed inwardly. _I'll protect them too, if it comes down to that._

The cats came to a halt in front of the once penguins and lemurs. The golden tabby looked down at them, hostility clear in his eyes. Skipper dug his claws into the ground, warning the cat to just try to attack them. But when the cat spoke his voice was steady," What are you doing on ThunderClan's territory?"

Skipper was confused. _ThunderClan? _He shared a glance with Private and saw that he was confused too. Then he met Kowalski's eyes and knew what he was thinking: They couldn't tell these cats who they were or where they came from. If they knew they were once penguins from New York they would think they were crazy or it would blow their whole operation.

Finally Skipper took a step forward that brought him inches away from the golden tabby and he dipped his head. This was their territory and he knew nothing about them so he didn't want them to seem threaten or anything. "My name is Skipper. And this is Kowalski," he said, pointing to the tall cat. Then he flicked his tail to Private and Rico, introducing them as well.

Suddenly Skipper was knocked out of the way when Julien ran in front of the golden tabby. "And I'm Julien, king of the l–"Skipper jumped on top of him before he could finish his sentence. He didn't know much about these cats but he was almost certain that they never heard of lemurs.

The lemur king struggle under him, but Skipper didn't get up, pushing him farther into the dirt.

A reddish tabby tom stepped forward. "What was he about to say?" he demanded, glaring down at Skipper as he jumped off Julien.

"He was just gonna say he was the king of um...cats!" Maurice stammered, running to his king and pushing him to where Mort stood beside the others. "We aren't sure if you used king or another term..."

Skipper could see that he was nervous and that he expected the cats to jump on him for lying. But he quickly thought of something. "Like another term would be 'leader'," he said. "Do you have a leader?"

The golden tabby stared at him for a long time, then flicked his time for a single that the reddish tabby should back off. "Yes we have a leader," he finally reply. "You call your leader 'king'?"

Reluctantly, Skipper nodded.

"And he's your 'king'?" the cat asked, pointing his tail at Julien, who was staring at the lake with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Um...yes," Skipper replied, trying not to roll his eyes. "Hey! Your all mightyness! Can you get over here please?" It killed Skipper to be nice to the annoying Julien, but these cats thought he ran things around here so he had no choice. When he got to Skipper's side, with a smug look on his face, Skipper told the cats," This is King Julien."

Mort ran to the cats, looked at them, and smiled at them. "Hey! I'm Mort!"

A white she-cat pushed past the reddish tabby and the golden tom, and stared down at the little cat. "Oh, aren't you the cutest thing?" She rubbed her tail against his check and Mort start purring. Skipper noticed Private grumbling to himself but he didn't have time to worry about his teammate.

Maurice told the cats his name, dipping his head.

"I'm Lionblaze," the golden tabby announce. "And the reddish tabby is Foxleap and the white she-cat is Whitewing."

Skipper dipped his head, not wanting to be rude but thinking to himself, _Weird names. _"So, can we meet your leader?" he asked. "We are kinda of lost and we might need a place to stay for a few nights til we know where we are."

The cats exchange glances; Skipper didn't blame them. He wouldn't trust strangers that just appeared out of nowhere either. But he hoped they decided to trust them. If they didn't, they would have to look for shelter but they had no idea where they were.

Finally Lionblaze turned back to them and nodded. "Okay, we'll take you to Firestar."

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**Please review! No flames!**


	3. Chapter 2

****Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!****

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The forest was silent, but Skipper could still feel that eyes were watching him. He walked beside Private. He could see that the young cat was shivering from fear so he moved closer til their pelts were brushing. He didn't want to say anything though, in case the ThunderClan cats were listening. He looked at Lionblaze and saw his ears moved toward them. Narrowing his eyes, he remained himself to keep an eye on him. Then he shook his head, remembering that this was his territory and for the time being Skipper was the intruder.

Suddenly Kowalski and Rico appeared beside them, but he silenced them with his eyes before they could say anything. He didn't want the cats overhearing.

Looking around, he noticed that the trees were thinning out. A hollow soon came into view. He noticed that it blended in with the forest surrounds, vines growing on the walls of it, grass growing on the bottom, and tree branched reached all the way to the top. It was like it was made to be hidden from something.

Then Whitewing paused and Skipper noticed that there were thorns and leaves hiding an entrance. _Clever, _he thought. _Hiding from an enemy maybe?_

Lionblaze and Foxleap pushed through the thorns without hesitating, but Whitewing turned back to Skipper and the others. "After you," she meowed, pointing with her tail at the entrance.

Skipper glanced at the others and noticed they were unsure. Taking a deep breath, he pushed through the thorn, feeling some of his fur being pulled off. Once he regain his balance, he blinked the blazing light of the clearing til he was able to see. He gasped when he saw a whole network of cats, some moving branches across the clearing, some running to a pile of food, and some even laying in the sunlight. But when Skipper appeared they all lifted their heads and turned surprised and confused eyes on him.

He noticed that Lionblaze stumbled up a pile of rocks and now reappeared with a ginger tom. The two cats slowly walked down the path as the rest of Skipper's friends follwed him through the camp's entrance. They all looked around, seeming just as shocked and curious as Skipper. They didn't have time to talk amongst themselves though, for the ginger tom stopped in front of the others, but instead of talking to Skipper, he talked directly to Julien.

"I hear you are the leader of this bunch," he announce, his voice full of authority.

Julien looked at the ginger tom, as if he was scared of him or something; Skipper bump him with his head, which snapped the king out of it. "That's right," he finally said, dipping his head, which surprised Skipper. "Are you the leader here?" The king looked around the clearing, his eyes sparking with wonder and Skipper wanted to know what he was thinking.

Exchanging a glance with Private, Skipper could see that his surprise was reflected in the younger cat's eyes too. They were both wondering since when does Julien have manners.

A dark brown tabby stepped out of the gathering cats, his amber eyes burning into the newcomers' pelts as he stopped beside his leader. "Firestar," he began," what do you think we should do with them?"

Before Firestar could answer, some cat in the crowd called out," We should drive them out!"

"No!" another replied to it. "They aren't our enemies. We should welcome them."

"Every cat that doesn't belong to our Clan is our enemy!" the first cat hissed back.

Skipper saw the fur on Firestar's neck fluff up as he yowled for silence. "My senior warriors and I will discuss what we will do," he announced when the cats fell quiet. Skipper felt himself admiring the ginger leader.

He watched as a few of the cats stepped out of the crowd and started following Firestar out of the camp. Some of them smiled at the newcomers as they pasted, while a few hissed at them. Turning to Julien, Skipper saw him looking at the entrance where the leader disappeared, the leaves still moving. He wanted to ask him what he was thinking, but he felt movement beside him.

Gasping, he jumped back, digging his claws into the earth when his eyes met brilliant blue eyes. He straightened up, feeling silly that he felt so jumpy. She started purring and he couldn't help but laugh himself.

"I'm Dovewing," she introduced herself.

He dipped his head. "I'm Skipper." He looked past her at his team, pointing to them. "And that's Kowalski, Rico, and Private."

She turned around and nodded to them, before turning back to Skipper. "So what brings you to ThunderClan?" she asked, moving closer.

Skipper found himself about to tell her, but luckily he met Kowalski's eyes just in time and he shook his head to clear it. What was wrong with him? There was just something about this cat that made him think he can tell her anything. Quickly, he told her," We are just pasting through."

"Oh?" Her eyes met his. "To where?"

Before Skipper could reply, Kowalski pushed him away. "Nowhere special," he replied for his leader. "We don't stay in one place for too long."

Dovewing nodded in understanding. "Okay." She glanced around as if looking from something and Skipper saw her eyes brighten when she saw a silver-and-white tabby. "I gotta go," she meowed, turning back to the cats. "My sister wants me to go on patrol with her."

She was about to walk away, but Skipper stopped her. "Patrol?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied. "We have to keep an eye on our borders so the other Clans don't enter our territory. We also have hurting patrols that bring back food for the Clan," she added.

Skipper was confused but he decided that he would ask her his questions later. For now he had another question that he wanted her to answer. "Can I join you?"

Dovewing seemed shook at first and she took a few moments before answering. Finally she nodded and replied," Sure. But we usually don't take out big patrols. Maybe one more can join but that's it." She casts sad eyes on the others.

Turning to his team, Skipper decided to take Private. The leader told the other two to stay with the lemurs–avoiding calling them lemurs, of course–and tried not to get in the way. They dipped their head and walked to where Julien and his subjects stood, staring around the clearing as if the screen of the whole Clan was too much for them and they wasn't sure what to make of it. Skipper noticed excitement in Mort's eyes and wonder in Julien's, while Maurice looked certain.

Skipper and Private followed Dovewing to the silver-and-white tabby. "I thought the gray-and-black ringtail cat was the leader," Dovewing meowed while they walked. "Why did you give those cats orders?"

"Oh." Skipper silently cursed himself and glanced at Private, before turning back to Dovewing. "I'm his second in commend." He said the first thing that came to his mind.

Suddenly understanding appeared in her eyes and she started purring. "Oh! You are his deputy!"

"Deputy?" Private wondered, blinking at the ThunderClan cat, who nodded.

"Brambleclaw is our deputy, second in commend to Firestar. He's that dark brown tabby that left with Firestar and the others."

Skipper remembered seeing him. He made a mental note that these cats had a leader and a deputy. They had patrols to keep an eye on their territory and hunt prey. They were so organized! He wondered what else they had, but before he could ask Dovewing, she stopped in front of her sister and said," Hey, Ivypool, this is Skipper."

The silver-and-white tabby turned to them and dipped her head. "Hey, I'm Ivypool."

"I'm Private." The young cat stepped forward and started purring at the cat.

Two more cats appeared: that reddish tabby that was there when Skipper and the others first got here and a newcomer, a very pale gray tom with black stripes. Foxleap glared down at the two outsiders, before turning his cold stare on Dovewing. "Why did you bring these two over here?" he demanded.

"They wanted to join us," she defended herself, and Skipper admired how tough she seemed. Then he noticed the pale gray tom staring at her too and he felt a rush of jealousy. _Why am I jealous? I just met her! They probably knew each other for all of their lives!_

Shaking his head to clear it, he took a step that brought him mouse-lengths away from Foxleap's muzzle. "Why can't we join you?"

"Because we know nothing about you," he growled. "You could be spies from ShadowClan, for all we know!"

"ShadowClan?" Private asked, and he and Skipper exchanged a glance.

"I really doubt they are spies, Foxleap," the pale gray tom spoke up for the first time, rolling his eyes. "I say let them come. What harm can it do?" Dovewing and Ivepool nodded in agreement.

Skipper could see that he had no choice but agree since he was clearly out numbered.

Sighing, Foxleap murmured," Fine," and started toward the camp entrance, grumbling more words under his breath, but Skipper couldn't hear what he said.

He found himself walking beside Dovewing when they entered the forest. He looked ahead and saw Private padding beside Ivypool and the pale gray tom while Foxleap led them farther into the woods, away from the lake. He glanced around, noticing for the first time that they were in an oak forest. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed a clearing up ahead but Foxleap paused before going into it.

"Those no need to go farther," he announced, turning to the rest of the patrol. "I don't smell new ShadowClan scent so they couldn't have crossed the border."

Ivypool nodded in agreement as she and the pale gray tom followed Foxleap back into the forest.

"So who is ShadowClan?" Skipper asked Dovewing when he caught up to her again, aware that Private was beside him but not paying attention to the kid.

Dovewing glanced at him, then answered," Our neighbors." She flicked her tail at the dark pine forest behind them. "You can't trust ShadowClan; they are always up to no good." She sighed. "But sometimes we have no choice but untie with them." She narrowed her eyes and said no more. Skipper was confused and wanted to ask her more questions but before he could, Foxlead called to them," Hey, hurry up!"

Shaking her head, as if trying to forget about something, Dovewing dashed off to catch up to the others. Skipper glanced at Private and sighed.

"What's wrong, Skippah?" he asked in his innocent voice.

Skipper didn't feel like telling him that this whole Clan thing was confusing him or that he was starting to have feelings for a cat he just met, so he just snapped," Nothing," and ran after Dovewing, leaving Private to chase after him.

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**Please review! No flames!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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_What is this place? _wondered Julien as he glanced around at the cats that pasted them; some went by without even looking at the king, while others looked at him with curious or hostile eyes. He didn't blame them. _We are being on their territory, after all._

Then he heard what he said and he mentally slapped himself. _What is being wrong with me? _he questioned, turning confused eyes on Maurice, expecting him to be able to read his mind and answer his king. But his adviser wasn't even looking at him. He was staring around the clearing, his eyes wide, as the Clan continued their daily activities as if the newcomers weren't even here. Julien felt sudden anger. Why were they ignoring them? Did someone tell them to pretend like they weren't here?  
"It seems like they have more important things to do, then worry about us," said a voice beside him, voicing his outrage thoughts. He turned to see the smart penguin–_no, cat, _he corrected himself–standing next to him. His black tail was moving back and forth as if he was anxious about something.

Before Julien could ask him what was wrong though, Mort pushed his way between them and wrapped his tail around Julien's feet. Growling, Julien couldn't believe that he still did this, even now that they were cats. He kicked the little annoying creature off his feet that sent him flying across the clearing. The king watched as cats jumped back in surprise, and suddenly he felt a rush of unexpected guilt when Mort flew into a cave at the very back of the camp.

For a few, long moments, there were silence, as cats began to gather around the cave. Julien saw Maurice glare at him, but he get walked past him to where the cats where gathering. He knew the smart cat tried to stop him, but he ignored him, dodging the ThunderClan cats til finally he stood in front.

When he was able to look into the cave, a sweet, pungent smell hit his nose and he jumped back, bumping into another cat, who hissed at him. Apologizing he stepped away from the cat, looking into the cave again; he felt movement beside him and knew that his friends arrived next to him.

Finally a yowl came from the came and Mort ran out, followed by a gray tom. "It's gonna take me hours to get those herbs organized again!" he hissed, glaring down at the little cat.

A tortoiseshell and white she-cat stepped out beside Mort and wrapped her tail around him, bring him closer to him. "Honestly, Jayfeather," she meowed to the tom, rolling her eyes," he's just a kit. He didn't know know better. You can't blame him."

"And besides," a black-and-white ThunderClan tom went on, turning to Julien," it was _his _fault! I saw the whole thing! He kick the little kitten into the medicine den!"

Julien felt every eye turn on him and he just wanted to melt into the earth. He started backing away but he bumped into something. He turned around and widened his eyes when he saw the ginger leader staring down at him. He dipped his head at the king, before walking to the middle of the crowd, turning in circles, raking his cats with his green eyes, til finally he stopped when they got on Jayfeather.

"What's going on here?" he asked, looking down at the cat.

Jayfeather shook himself, pointing at Julien, who saw his eyes for the first time; he had pale, clear blue eyes. He was blind! But he acted that he could see just fine. "He kicked that little kitten into my den and scattered my herbs," he told his leader.

The ginger leader turned his bright eyes on Julien. "Is this true?"

Not sure what to do, the king leaned down and stared at the ground, not wanting to meet his eyes. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but there was something strange but wonderful about this world and he wanted to get to know as much to know about it as he can, not get on these cats bad side. "Yes, it's true," he murmured. "I'm sorry, Firestar. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

He dared to glance up and was surprise to see approve in the leader's eyes. "Right," he meowed, helping the king to his feet. "If you all are gonna to stay here til you decide where you are to go next, you need to follow our rules." He stared down at Julien with a hard stare. "And unfortunately if an apprentice did that they'd have to take care of the elders til further notice."

Julien was shocked and disgusted, but something deep down inside him knew that was the right thing to do, so he dipped his head. "Yes, Firestar."

There were murmurs of agreement from the gathered Clan, but he heard surprised mews from his friends. "King Julien doing _work?" _he heard Maurice say, and he glanced over just in time to see Kowalski and Rico giving him surprised glances. Julien made a mental note to confront Maurice later for that comment.

Then Firestar lifted his head and addressed all of his cats," There is a Gathering tonight. We need to get ready. Brambleclaw," he went on and a dark brown tabby padded to him. "Choose which cats you want to take with us and tell them to rest for tonight."

Firestar was about to go back to his den, but he turned when the tom called him back. "Should I choose one of the newcomers?" he asked, and Julien prickled his ears.

The leader thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No," he replied firmly. "We will announce their arrive, but they don't have any training. I don't want them to meet any Clan without being taught a few fighting moves."

Julien glanced at Kowalski and Rico, wondering, _Do they still remember their fighting techniques? _But he didn't have time to think of anything else. He saw Brambleclaw dip his head and run off to tell cats about the Gathering.

_But what is the Gathering?  
_Running to catch up to the leader, Julien called out," Hey, Firestar!" The leader turned to him, surprise lighting his gaze, but he stopped to wait for the other cat to catch up. "What's a Gathering?" he asked.

Firestar didn't seem surprise by the question. "It's when the four Clans of the lake get together on the island," the leader replied, adding when the king looked confused," The island is on the other side of the island, closer to RiverClan and WindClan. You didn't see it when you arrived?"

Julien shook his head, thinking quickly. "We...um...came the other way. So why can't we come tonight?" he continued, not wanting the leader to think farther into what he said.

"I just don't want you to get into trouble," the leader confused. "Some of these cats are seasoned warriors and most of them don't welcome strangers, so I want them to slowly get used to the idea of new cats, especially a lot of them. If they found out ThunderClan suddenly got a bunch of new cats, they would think we were playing an attack, which might make them attack first." He frowned and looked up at the sky; Julien followed his gaze. It was just past noon it looked like. "And the last thing we need is for the truce to be broken and for StarClan to be angry with us..."

Julien widen is eyes and snapped his head down, staring at the great leader. "StarClan?" he echoed, blinking in confusion and wonder.

Slightly uncertain, Firestar nodded and answered," They are our warrior ancestors." He pointed his tail upwards. "They live in silverpelt, but you can only see it at night." He lower his gaze down at Julien. "I keep forgetting there are cats out there who have never heard of StarClan."

However, Julien barely heard him. He was lost in his own thoughts. He remember the night before he and the others were transported to this word. He remembered very faintly of hearing that name in his dream, but he couldn't quite remember it, so he just shrugged it off. Then he noticed that Firestar was walking away, and he was replaced by Julien's subjects.

"Are you okay, King Julien?" Maurice asked. "You seem different ever since we arrived. You know, almost nice."

Julien glared at him and Maurice added," I did say 'almost'."

Before they could continue their conversation, that blind gray tom appeared and dropped something foul smelling in front of Julien, who tried not to vomit.

"What is this?" the king demanded.

"Mouse bile," Jayfeather snapped, still sounding annoyed at the cat for kicking Mort into his den. "Mousefur has a tick." He pointed with his tail to the other side of the camp, closer to the entrance. Before he vanished into his den again, he called over his shoulder," And wash your paws when you're done!"

Sighing, Julien picked up the moss in his teeth, trying to block out the nasty smell. He knew the reason he didn't object when Firestar gave him this job or remain him that he was the king, was because he wanted to know as much as he could about these cats that he could possibly learn, even if that included using mouse bile to get rib of ticks from elders.

He realized that Maurice was padding beside him and that Mort was on his other side. He put the moss down. "Yes?" he asked, looking at them in turn.

"We wanted to help, Your Majesty," Maurice explained, as Mort bounced up and down in excitement.

Julien just shrugged and picked up the moss again, making his way to the elders den, where Jayfeather pointed out. He noticed that the den was well protected, in case unwanted visits stopped by was Julien's guess. He stepped back as Maurice called a greeting; a rusty purr replied and the three cats pushed through the vines.

The light in the den blinded Julien at first but when he was finally able to see, he spotted a small brown she-cat laying in a nest while a plump tabby leaned over her. But the tabby looked up when the newcomers entered.

"Welcome," he purred. "I'm Purdy, and this is Mousefur."

The brown she-cat glared at the tabby and hissed," I can introduce myself." Then she sighed. "But now there's no use since you already did it." She tried to get it, but Julien could see that her old limps couldn't support her long enough and she fell back onto her nest, grumbling to herself.

Laughter in his eyes, Purdy turned back to the others. "Pay not attention to her. She doesn' bite." He started stroking her fur. "Look, Mousefur, they are gonn' get rib of those pesky ticks.

Julien saw Mousefur relax. "Finally!" she sighed. He padded over to her and started searching her fur. It wasn't long til he spotted one: a nice and juicy one. He pressed the bile against it and it fell right fell.

"Hi there," Julien heard Purdy say and he didn't have to look around to know that he was talking to Mort. "Do you want to hear a story?"

"Yes please!" the little cat meowed.

"Get comfortable and I'll tell you about this one time when this nasty ol' fox decided to get a little too close to my home," Purdy began, and Julien sighed inwardly, thinking to himself, _This is gonna be a long afternoon, _as another tick fell off Mousefur.

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	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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When the patrol got back to camp, Dovewing told Skipper and Private that they can choose something off the fresh-kill pile. The gray cat pointed where it was and they padded over to it, but what they saw made them come to a halt. Skipper noticed Private glance at him with a disgusted look on his face, but he wasn't really paying attention to the younger cat.

_Mice...voles...birds...and squirrels! _Skipper felt sick. He sat down and wrapped his tail around his paws. They couldn't expect them to eat this. _But of course they don't know we used to have a squirrel friend, _Skipper remembered himself, staring down at the body of the broken down creature.

Suddenly his belly growled and he sighed. If they were to survive til they got home, they would have to deal with this kind of food. He nudged Private closer to the pile.

"Come on, you first," the leader told him.

"But Skippah!"

"Don't argue with your commending officer and now choose something from the fresh-kill pile!" Skipper order, glancing around, hoping nobody heard him, and he let out a soundless sigh when no cat was near him.

Sighing, Private slowly walked to the pile, obviously trying to avoid the squirrel and picked up the vole. Skipper choose a mouse. The two cats walked across the clearing til they found a warm spot to eat. At first they were uncertain, but Skipper made Private take his first bite.

"It's delicious!" the young cat meowed, his eyes shining as he took another bite.

A little surprised, Skipper slowly ripped the skin off his mouse and began to chew it, forcing it down. Then it's favor hit him. _It is amazing! It might even be more amazing than fish!_

When Skipper and Private was done eating, they laid in the sunlight, dozing. They looked up when they heard a familiar grunt. Rico and Kowalski stood over them.

"How was the patrol?" Kowalski asked as Rico sniffed Private's breath.

Private sat up and pointed to the fresh-kill pile. "If you want some food, you can ask Dovewing." He looked around the clearing for the pale gray cat; then his ears pricked. "Why does everyone seem busy all of the sudden?"

Skipper looked around, forgetting about Kowalski's question. He noticed Firestar and Brambleclaw talking together, while a gray tom sat at the entrance of a den, laying out what looked like leaves. Some cats were laying down, or eating, or working on the dens.

"I think Firestar said something about a...Gathering," Kowalski response, turning to the ginger leader, shrugging. "But none of us can go. We doesn't want us to meet the other Clans til we've had some training."

"Other Clans?" Private wondered, blinking at Kowalski.

"Training?" Skipper got to his paws. "I'm going to go talk to him. I think it's time we start to ask questions about this place." He started walking over there, but paused when he noticed that his team was following him. "I think I should go over there alone."

"But Skippah," the private tried to protect, but stopped himself and just nodded as their leader walked to the ThunderClan leader.

Skipper was considering if he should wait til he was done talking to Brambleclaw or what, when Firestar turned his head around and asked," Yes? What is it, Skipper?"  
Slightly off guard, the black-and-white tom stammered," I-I wanted to know more about the Gathering that will be held tonight. Kowalski told me about it," he added when he saw confusion in the leader's eyes.

Firestar dipped his head and turned back to Brambleclaw. "You can finish up here, can't you?" he asked, getting up.

The deputy nodded. "We only need a few more cats to attend. I'm sure I can figure out who I want to come along." He meowed a goodbye to Skipper as he pasted.

Firestar watched as he left. Then he turned back to Skipper. "Why don't we talk in the forest? We'll have privacy in there."

Skipper followed the ThunderClan leader as he pushed though the thorn barrier that was the entrance to the camp. He grumbled to himself when he felt some of his fur being pulled off again. Every time he went through it, he swore he lost some of his fur.

He watched as Firestar took him to an area of the forest he hasn't been yet. Then a strong scent hit him, making him sneeze. Firestar looked around in surprised and Skipper wondered why. Shouldn't he know his territory like his paw? Skipper lifted his white paw and looked at it closely. Suddenly he felt something slam against him and he was ready to defend him, when he realize it was only Firestar, pushing him into the bushes.

"Hide," he hissed. "I smell Twolegs."

_Twolegs?_

Skipper glanced out of the bush and saw something that made his eyes widened. A human was walking through the woods. It was only a little kid. It didn't look lost, but he didn't understand why it was so deep in the woods.

"We are close to a clearing where Twolegs camp in greenleaf," Firestar whisper in Skipper's ears. "I'm guess this kit just got a little too curious and decided to check out the forest. Hopefully it'll go away soon." He took a deep breath. "I don't smell dog."

Skipper wasn't sure how long they waited til finally the human kid vanished into the woods and its scent slowly started to faded. Finally Firestar stood up and shook off dust from his pelt. Skipper followed him, noticing that the ThunderClan cat kept calling the human _Twoleg. _So they have another word for humans...

Firestar sat down, wrapping his tail around his paws. Skipper sat down beside him.

"So what do you want to know about the Gathering?"

"Everything." Skipper said. "What exactly is it?"

"Well every full moon the four Clans around the lake gather on the island on the other side of the lake," he told the cat, and Skipper sat in silence. "There's a truce that if broken StarClan sends clouds to cover the moon and casts shadows on the island. StarClan wants absolutely no–"

"Wait, wait, wait." Skipper blinked up at him. "Who's StarClan?"  
"Oh." Firestar licked his shoulder is if embarrassed. "They are our warriors ancestors. They watch over us from silverpelt." His eyes snapped to the shy, where the first stars started to show, and Skipper knew he had to hurry with his questions because the Clan had to leave for the Gathering soon.

"What about training?" he questioned. "If we are here til next month, I want to go to the next Gathering if you'd let us," he added. "I want to get to know the other Clans. What kind of training would we have to do?"

Firestar looked down at the cat in surprise. "Battle training and hunting training," he replied. Skipper wanted to ask him more questions, but the tom got to his feet and meowed," It's time to get back to camp. It's almost time to leave to go to the island."

Skipper sighed inwardly, but he got up and followed the ThunderClan leader back to the camp. When they arrived, Brambleclaw ran to his leader and announced," We are ready when you are."

Firestar dipped his head and looked at all the cats that were going to the Gathering. Skipper felt a pang of sadness when he saw that Dovewing was among the chosen ones. But he pushed it away. He watched as the cats left the clearing, meowing goodbyes to their Clanmates and promising that they will tell them everything that happen at the Gathering.

Then Skipper noticed the king sitting by himself by one of the dens, watching the cats leave. He padded over to him, but Julien didn't look at him. Skipper jumped back in surprise when he smelled something foul on the used-to-be lemur. "Oh my God, man! What is that smell?" he demanded, turning his nose away from the cat.

The king shrugged causally. "Mouse bile. Jayfeather had told me that get the ticks off of Mousefur."

Skipper wanted to throw up. "Shouldn't you wash it off?"

Again the king shrugged, still looking at the entrance where the Clan disappeared.

Rolling his eyes, Skipper nudged Julien toward the thorn barrier, avoiding touching his paws. "Come, I'm taking you to a stream to wash off that bile!" Then he thought of something. "Where's the other two?"

"Mort stayed to listen to Purdy's story–Man, that guy can talk!" Skipper noticed laughter in his eyes. "And Maurice is talking to Mousefur. I saw at first that she was snappy but as soon as Maurice started talking to her, she calmed down..." He trailed off as if lost in thought.

Skipper wanted to ask him what was thinking about, but the smell was too much for him and he was thankful was they finally found a steam not far from the camp. He watched as Julien jumped into the water, but growled when the water sprayed him. Then the king climbed out of the steam and looked into the other cat's eyes.

"I want to stay," the king announced.

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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Julien saw the black-and-white cat's eyes stretch wide in surprise, but he didn't really care. He shook his body to rib of the water, noticing Skipper jumping aside to avoid the droplets. Then the king sat down and started grooming himself, slightly amused that his friend looked at him with his mouth open as if speechless. It seemed like it was gonna be the king who had to be the one who had to speak first.

He stood up, facing Skipper. "I find this place very interesting," he began, glancing around the woods, then back at the cat. "Firestar even told me about these spirit cats called StarClan and I want to know more about them."

Skipper nodded. "He told me about them, too."

"Really?" Julien eyed the cat. "Why?"

"I asked him to tell me about somethings about his Clan," he explained, shrugging. "It sounds very interesting, and I think tomorrow I'm gonna ask him if we can train with them."

Julien circled around Skipper, flicking his tail in his face. "Train?" he question. "Train for what?"  
Skipper shrugged. "Firestar said battle training," he answer, his eyes staring into the trees as if he was in his own thoughts. "He even said we need to learn hurting skills," he added, turning back to the king. "You know, helping the Clan bring in food, because I'm sure they won't be happy if we just sat around and eat their food while they did all the work."

Sitting in front of Skipper, Julien nodded. "Yes," he agreed, but before he could say anything else, a rustling in the bushes distracted the two cats and they spun around, tensed as if they expected to see an enemy. They relax when they saw it was only the others, probably wondering where their leaders had gone.

Silently cussing himself for being so jumpy, Julien padded over to Maurice, who eyed his king worriedly. "Are you okay, Your Majesty?" he asked. "You ran off so fast, even Purdy and Mousefur asked about you."

Surprisingly Julien felt a purr rumble deep in his throat. "Yes, I'm fine," he assured his adviser, sitting in front of him and looking down at little Mort as he pushed past Skipper's team. "And I've decided something," he added, raking his gaze across his loyal subjects, waiting for them to ask what it was.

Maurice seemed confused. "What's that, my king?"

Julien wanted this moment to last as long as he could possibly make it. He finally replied to his friend after what seemed like forever. "We are gonna stay with the Clan."

Instantly Mort started bouncing up and down, meowing with excitement as he ran around Julien, but to the king's surprise he wasn't annoyed at the little cat; he felt amusement when he watch Mort run around, a purr deep in his throat. But he quickly pushed it down, remaining himself how much he hated the little annoying creature. He turned to Maurice, expected to see excitement in his eyes, but was surprised to see uncertainly and even fear.

"Are you sure we should stay, Your Majesty?" he asked, backing up as if he didn't want to question his king but he didn't want to hide his fears.

Anger flashed inside Julien. "Of course," he growled. "I'm your king! So you have to listen to me! And in the morning," he added," I'm gonna ask Firestar if we can stay."

"And if he doesn't let you stay?"

Julien's head shot up when he head the smart cat's voice, and he had to big his claws into the earth to stop himself from raking them across his face. How dare he say that to the king? By this time the sun was already gone and shadows filled the forest; Julien had to narrow his eyes to make out Kowalski's form.

"What if he doesn't let you stay?" the tom repeated, walking closer to the king. "What will you do then? Will you want to go home then, or will you stay in this world as cats without a Clan and live on the land?"  
That question took Julien by surprise, but then he thought of a question for him. "Do you even know how to get us home?" he demanded, confronting the tom til their muzzles almost touched.

Kowalski stumbled backwards, seeming to look for the right words. Skipper ran to his teammate's side, and Julien could easily see the anger in his blue eyes even in the gathering shadows.

"Leave Kowalski alone!" he ordered. "He is still trying to figure it out, but it isn't easy." Suddenly Skipper fell quiet and Julien heard him shift his paws. "Without Rico being able to hack up anything we are up a creek without a paddle." Julien heard the crazy cat grunt something, and Skipper added," I know it's not your fault." Skipper something jumped on Julien, yowling," It's all _his _fault!"

Scared and not sure what to do, the king tried to fight back and dodge the cat's claws, but he felt a sting pain when they meet his ear. He let out a yowl and found himself fighting harder til he finally found enough strength to push the other cat off him. He stood in front of Skipper, breathing heavily and feeling something wet dipping off his ear. He shook his head, blinded by pain and anger.

He was faintly aware that Maurice tried to stop him, but he ran right past his adviser, colliding into Skipper. He let out a surprise gasps as the king pinned him down, slicing his claws down his expose belly. The gasp turned into an agonizing yowl; he tried to fight back to get up, but the king only sunk in his claws deeper.

Then he felt someone pulling him off Skipper, using teeth and claws, holding him down so he doesn't fight back. He glanced up into the face of Private; he looked frightened, but ready to defended his leader. Julien looked sideways and saw the other two. Rico was sitting on him, while Kowalski helped Skipper to his paws.

Julien then saw what he did to the leader. A few tufts of fur hung off as blood pour into his eyes from a cut on his head; he spotted blood dipping from his belly. Julien felt sick. _I did that? _the king thought.

He watched as Skipper stumbled to him, glaring down at him with hatred in his eyes. He didn't blame him. "What the hell is wrong with you, Ringtail?" he demanded.

The king was surprised. "You attacked me first!" he protected, flicking his bloody ear.

"But look what you did to Skipper!" Private told him, gesturing to his leader with wide eyes. "You could have easily killed him if we weren't here!"

"I mean, come on," Skipper tried to protect casually, shrugging, as if he wasn't in pain, but Julien saw that he was. "He didn't hurt me that bad."  
"You looked like you were about to kill him!" Private went on as if Skipper didn't even talk.

"That's enough, Private!" Skipper snapped. Then he looked down at Julien, who tried to crawl on Rico, wishing he could just disappear. "You really want to stay here, after what you just did to me?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure Clanmates don't attack each other." He glared down at him.

"You keep forgetting, you attack me first!" Julien protested.

"You're not my Clanmate," Skipper told him, turning away from him. "I had to defend Kowalski's honor. Besides, your ear will heal. What would you have done if you have killed me?" He glanced back at Julien, glaring down at him, before calling his team together. "Come on, let's go." He sighed and meowed to Julien," I won't tell them that you attacked me. I'll just tell them that we found an intruder and fought them off." He and his team left before Julien could say anything.

Shock and his ear still stinging, Julien got to his paws, staring after Skipper and the others. Then he realize that Maurice and Mort was beside him. He turned to them, but he wasn't surprised when he saw them staring at him with big, wide eyes. He thought about lighting the mood by laughing and making a joke but he decided against it, so all he said was," We better get back to camp."

They followed him, but to Julien's disappointed they tried to keep as far away from him as they could. Even Mort wasn't jumping around him or hugging around his feet, which made the king sad and he wondered why. He hated the little annoying creature and he should be happy right now, but why was he so sad? He felt his tail dragging the ground as he made his way back to the ThunderClan camp, his two friends following him.

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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Blinded by anger and pain, Skipper didn't noticed that he almost walked right off the hill and fell into the stone hollow that would have surely broken his neck. But thankfully Kowalski and Private pulled him back in time; Kowalski looked closely at his leader as if he knew there was something on Skipper's mind. Maybe it was so obvious. He noticed Private and Rico looking at him with worried eyes too.

He didn't want to tell them his feeling through, so he just shook himself, trying to ignore the new rush of pain that hit him. "Come on," he ordered, making his way to the camp entrance. He jumped in surprised when a cat stepped out of the shadows but relaxed when the scent of ThunderClan hit his nose.

"Who goes there?" growled a voice, but the cat relaxed when he noticed that it was only Skipper and the others. "Oh, it's only you. I thought you were already asleep though." Then his eyes widened when he saw Skipper, and the cat tried to hide behind Kowalski, not wanting to make a screen. "What happened?" the cat demanded.

At first nobody answered him. Then Private burst out," We went for a late night walk and saw an intruder. But Skipper scared it off," he added when fear flashed in the ThunderClan cats' eyes.

Skipper stepped forward. "There's no need to worry. That cat's long gone. I don't think he was part of another Clan, just a loner looking for easy prey."

The cat eyed Skipper for a moment, before nodding. "Okay, but I'm still gonna have to tell Firestar." He looked the black-and-white cat up and down. "You should probably go see Jayfeather before you bleed to death." He pointed into the darkness and Skipper guess he meant his den was at the back of the camp.

Skipper nodded, but before he left, he meowed to the cat," Julien and the others are still out there. Julien has a scratched ear but the others are unharmed."

The guard cat nodded and went on looking after the camp. Skipper order his team to get some rest, but at first they refused, saying they wanted to make sure he was okay. Skipper could see that Private was yawning and he asked Rico to take him to the Warriors' den and find him a nest. The cat nodded without objecting and nudged the protesting private away.

Skipper was aware that he was left alone with Kowalski. Their eyes met. He knew it wouldn't be that easy to get rib of him, so he had no choice but let the taller cat come with him to Jayfeather's den.

Since he hadn't been to this side of the camp yet, Kowalski had to led the way. Skipper narrowed his eyes, trying not make out the den, but it was too dark to see anything. He prickled his ears when he heard snoring coming from the den, at least two cats. Does this Jayfeather share his den with another cat?

Quietly, Kowalski called a greeting to the cat and it was a few moments til the cat stumbled out, grumbling. "What is it?" he hissed. "And can't it wait til–"He stopped when he saw Skipper, eying him. "What happened to you?"

Skipper told him the same story they told the guard cat and he hoped the gray tom believed him. He could see him watching him closely. Then he saw for the first that he was blind. But why was he looking at Skipper with his sightless blue eyes _like _he could see? He felt a shiver run up his spine. Finally Jayfeather meowed," Come in my den and I'll treat your wounds. But honestly," he murmured as he turned around, obviously fighting back a yawn," Couldn't you have waited til tomorrow to get into a fight with an intruder?"

Feeling relieved that the ThunderClan cat believed him, Skipper followed him into the den, aware that Kowalski was right behind him. He blinked, trying to figure out what the den looked like, but it was covered in shadows. He could see Jayfeather walking to the back and he narrowed his eyes; a sweet, pungent smell was all around him and he wriggled his nose, trying to smell anything else but that.

Then he realize that Kowalski was sitting beside him with his tail wrapped around his paws calmly. There was something unreadable in his eyes as he watched Jayfeather reach into a smaller den in the back, but before Skipper could ask him what was on his mind, the gray tom turned around and limped back to the cats. Skipper saw that he was holding something in his paw and when he looked closer, he saw that it was spider webs.

"Lay down," the cat order, and Skipper gently flopped to his side. He looked up at the cat as he towered over him.

"What are you gonna do to him?" Kowalski asked, the curious obvious in his voice.

Jayfeather flicked his tail in annoyance. "The cobwebs will stop the bleeding," he explaining, and Skipper let out a hiss when the cat pressed them against his belly. "Oh stop fussing," he snapped. "This will teach you a lesson. You can't attack a cat without proper training."

Skipper was about to tell the ThunderClan cat that they did have training when there was rustling behind Jayfeather, and Skipper tried to look behind the gray tom, but the pain made him wince and stink back to the ground.

"Should I give him a poppy seed, Jayfeather?" a voice called from the shadows and a dark brown she-cat came out from the darkness. Skipper widened his eyes when he noticed that her back legs didn't work, and she had to drag herself across to the gray tom, who was shaking his head.

"No, Briarlight," he replied. "I want to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't get an infection. I'm sure he can sleep just fine."

Kowalski was looking at the injured cat too. The brown she-cat turned to him and meowed," Can I help you?"

The tall cat shook his head and looked at the ground. "Uh...nothing..."

Skipper knew he didn't want to be rude, so he wasn't going to ask her what happened. Jayfeather glared at Kowalski, before turning to Briarlight. "Go back to sleep," he told her. "You need your rest. And besides," he added," I heard Millie has a surprise for you tomorrow."

"Really?" That brighten the broken cat up and she quickly bragged herself back to her nest and a few moments later Skipper heard snoring coming in that direction. He just blinked after her, wondering how a cat can live with just half of a body.

"She lives just fine," Jayfeather thought as if he could read Skipper's mind, and the cat turned to the tom, confused. He rolled his eyes, meowing," The cobwebs should stop the bleeding. Now you two can go find a nest in the Warriors' den and give me some peace." Without another word, the tom spun around and vanished into the shadows.

Skipper glanced at Kowalski. "What's his problem?" he wondered, but the cat just shrugged and Skipper noticed he was still looking at where Briarlight disappeared to. Sighing, he struggled to his paws, ignoring the pain. "Come on," he told his teammate. He was thankful when he noticed Kowalski following him, but he couldn't help noticing that he shot one last glance over his shoulder.

When they got to the warriors den, he saw that Private and Rico already found their nests next to each other and they were fast asleep. He even saw Julien and his subjects. Looking closer, he noticed that Julien's ear stopped bleeding, but it was a V shape at the top and dried blood still cling to it. He noticed that Julien was sleeping a few inches away from the other two, as if they were afraid of him.

Sighing, Skipper padded over to the other two members of his team and crawled up next to them, aware that Kowalski laid down next to Rico. Before he closed his eyes, he glanced around at the ThunderClan cats. The den was full of gentle snores. He could still feel the pain in his stomach, but since the bleeding stopped, it wasn't as bad. He sighed again and crawled up tighter, closing his eyes, and thinking before going to sleep, _I hope tomorrow is better._

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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It was the next morning and Firestar had agreed to let the newcomers join in training, but Skipper had to sit the section out since he was so badly injured. Glancing over at his leader, Private saw annoyance in his eyes. That didn't surprise the young cat. He knew the proud creature well enough to know that he didn't like sitting back while everyone else trained.

Private turned back to Lionblaze, who was in charge of the training section. Firestar had explained to them that normally mentors will teach apprentice fighting moves, but since the Clan didn't have any apprentices at the moment, a few warriors had to train with Skipper's team. Dovewing was also part of the training section, and Private had remembered Skipper's eyes brightened when she had told them that she was gonna join them.

"Okay, Rosepetal," the golden tabby meowed, turning to the she-cat. "I want you to pair up with Private. Dovewing, you train with Kowalski. And I'll be with Rico." All the cats nodded in agreement and walked to their partners that Lionblaze told them to go to.

Private wondered why Julien and the others didn't have to train, but then he remembered Skipper telling him that Firestar said that they usually didn't have many cats training all at once and they needed them on patrol.

Eying Rosepetal up, he wondered if she was going to attack him without warning or explain what they were going to do. He glanced around the clearing, and saw Lionblaze and Rico circling each other, while Dovewing jumped for Kowalski, who dodged out of the way just in time, but Dovewing manged to rake her paws across his side; Private let out a thankful sigh when he noticed that her claws where sheathed.

Suddenly his paws were knocked out of under him and Private found himself staring up at the tree tops. Rosepetal stared down at him, amusement in her eyes. "You have to pay attention," she meowed. "An enemy isn't gonna sit back and wait til your ready to fight."

"She's right." Private looked up to see his leader raising to his paws, stumbling over to him. Shame crashed over him and he wished he could sank into the earth. "You should know that, Private." Skipper sat down in front of the young cat, wrapping his tail around his paws. Private could see the pain in his eyes, but he could see that his leader was trying to hide it from the others. Turning back to Rosepetal, he added," We train in some fighting techniques ourselves."

The dark cream she-cat's ears prickled up. "Really?" she asked, helping Private to his paws. "Can you show us some of your moves? Maybe we can learn from each other."

Suspicion flashed in Skipper's eyes, and at first Private thought he was gonna refused, but then it vanished to be replaced by amusement. _Why does he think that's funny?_

"Of course," Skipper finally meowed, adding," Rico!" Instantly the psycho cat separated from Lionblaze, who was trying to pin him down. As if Rico could read Skipper's mind, he stood in front of Private, ready to pounce. Private wasn't sure what to do, but he knew his leader was counting on him to show these cats that they could fight, and he could feel everyone start to gather around.

Rico took a step toward the young private, and he could see that he was about to jump on him, so he slid to one side, just avoiding him as Rico pounced. The crazy cat landed a few mouse-lengths away without even touching Private, but he knew he couldn't relax just yet. He kept dodging attacks, jumping back til he knew he was close to the edge of the clearing. He heard one of the ThunderClan cats murmured that he was cornered now. Private felt a smirk form on his face as he crouched down, waiting for the perfect moment til Rico was almost upon him. Then he gave a mighty jump, clearing his friend with no problem. Once he was on the opposite side of Rico, he bite down on his tail and dragged him toward everyone, holding him down til he laid still. If he was a real enemy, Private would have scratched and bite him more, but he didn't want to hurt his friend.

He looked up and saw the three ThunderClan cats staring at him with disbelief in their eyes. Then Rosepetal and Dovewing ran over to Private as the cat jumped off his friend. "That was amazing!" Dovewing exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement. "Where did you ever learn to do that?"

Private watched as Rico got to his paws, shaking the dust off his pelt. "Skipper comes up with all our fighting techniques," he explained, pointing to the leader with his tail.

Lionblaze looked at Skipper. "Where did you come up with a technique like _that?" _he asked, sounding impressed and shock. Private walked to his leader and sat beside him, feeling proud of him.

Skipper just shrugged, laughing, and Private thought he almost looked like he forgot about his pain. "I just came to me."

Suddenly Private was pushed aside as the ThunderClan cats surrounded Skipper, asking him to show them more. Kowalski and Rico walked over to him, glancing down at him. "Well it looks like Skipper is popular all of the sudden," Kowalski meowed, also sounding proud for Skipper, while Rico just nodded.

* * *

They spent all morning training, where Skipper's team show the ThunderClan cats their way of fighting, and just after noon, Lionblaze told Dovewing and Roesepetal to go hunting. He told them to bring Kowalski and Rico, but he said the other two could return to camp. Private walked beside Skipper, who looked happy that he was able to help the Clan in some way.

When they got back to camp, Private noticed that Julien and his subjects were back too. The ringtail cat was talking to Firestar. Private saw Skipper narrowing his eyes and the young cat wondered if Julien was actually asking the ThunderClan cat if he could stay. Before they could do anything, Firestar let out a yowl and every cat looked up.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" the ThunderClan cat meowed, jumping onto the pile of rocks.

Skipper ran to Julien and demanded," What did you do?" Private was right behind him.

Turning surprised eyes on the cat, Julien replied to him," I told you I was going to tell him that I want to stay. He's even gonna give us Clan names!" His tail flicked in excitement as he stared up at his new leader.

Maurice and Mort came running over from the other side of the clearing; Maurice seem to know what his king have done as Mort glanced around while the Clan gathered around. "Your Majesty, are you sure that was such a good idea?"

"Yes," Julien replied, sitting down and wrapping his tail around his paws. Then he added," And in a few minutes I won't be your king anymore."

Private waited for Maurice to object, but he was surprise to see a sparkle of hope in his eyes. "Really?" the gray tom meowed, sitting beside him.

After Julien nodded, Maurice declared," I think I'm gonna love it here."

Skipper glanced at Private with unreadable eyes, but before he could say anything, Firestar began to speak. "As you all know, yesterday morning we got visitors. I'm not sure if they are want to stay, but I was just asked by Julien, if he and Maurice, and little Mort could stay."

Instantly cats started meowing. "Why do they want to stay?"

"We don't know if we can trust them yet," another cat added. "We should give them more time. You saw how the Clans reacted last night when we told them about newcomers.. They were outraged!"

There were murmurs of agreements, and Private thought Firestar was about to agree himself, but then he noticed Lionblaze, who had returned to camp with them, stand up. "But they haven't given us a reason not to trust them yet," he pointed out. "And I'm sure these cats have a lot to teach us." His eyes landed on Private and Skipper. "I say we welcome them into the Clan."

Skipper moved closer to Private. "He's talking like we want to stay," he whispered to his friend. "As soon as Kowalski figure out how to get us home, we are out of here."

Private nodded in agreement, but he started to doubt that Kowalski will ever figure it out. He hasn't even mention a way to get home. He felt a pang of home sickness and he looked down at his paws, wishing he could see the other animals at the zoo again. Will he ever see Marlene again? Or the chimps? Or anyone else? He sighed and looked up, listening to Firestar as he replied to Lionblaze.

The leader was nodding and he looked down at his Clan. "What do you say?" he asked. "Can we give them a chance?"

The clearing was silent for a few moments, and Private stared at Julien and the others, realizing he was holding his breath. Finally murmurs began to break out, first uncertain, then agreeing with the leader to let the three cats into their Clan. Private let out his breath and turned to Skipper. "So it looks like if Kowalski does figure out how to get us home," he whispered," the lemurs are staying here." All Skipper did was nodded and watch Firestar call Mort followed.

Firestar looked down at the little cat. "Mort, I know you just joined the Clan, but you can't be any older than six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed." The leader dipped his head to the cat. "From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as, Mousepaw." The leader looked around the gathered ThunderClan cats til his eyes landed on a golden tabby tom. "Your mentor will be, Lionblaze. I hope Lionblaze will pass down all he knows on to you."

"Lionblaze," the leader called to the warrior and dipped his head to him as he walked up," you are ready to take on another apprentice. You trained Dovewing wonderfully, and you have shown yourself to be strong and brave. You will be the mentor of Mousepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him."

Private watched as Lionblaze bent down to touch noses with the newly name Mousepaw, before they walked side by side into the crowd. Firestar called to Maurice next; the gray tom stepped out. He looked almost terrified to be in the middle of the clearing, but as Firestar began to speak, all his attention went to the leader.

The leader looked at the sky. "I, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warriors ancestors to look down on this cat." He dropped his gaze to Maurice. "He has not yet learned the warrior code or the proper skills yet to become a warrior but if you welcome him as one, I'm sure he'll train to be the best warrior he can be." The leader dipped his head. "Maurice, do you promise to study the warrior code and follow it and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Private could see that Maurice was a little uncertain at first, but then he nodded and meowed," I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan," Firestar continued, glancing at the sky, then back at Maurice," I give you your warrior name. Maurice, from this moment you will be known as Shrewpelt. StarClan honors your loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

Firestar rests his muzzle on Shrewpelt's head, and Private saw Firestar whisper something to him before the newly name cat lick the leader's shoulder. Then he stepped back. Private saw Julien standing in the middle of clearing, looking nervous but excited as he stood in front of the ThunderClan leader.

"And lately, Julien," Firestar meowed. "Step forward."

The cat padded up and Private could see him shaking a little from excitement.

The ThunderClan leader stood tall as he faced the ringtail cat. "I, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan," he began, looking excited himself that he was doing this ceremony," call upon my warriors ancestors to look down on this cat. He has not yet learned the warrior code or the proper skills yet to become a warrior but if you welcome him as one, I'm sure he'll train to be the best warrior he can be." Private saw the king shiver and he wondered why. He looked closer, noticing a sparkle in his eye. What was he thinking? "Julien, do you promise to study the warrior code and follow it and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Private expect Julien to object, but the king instantly replied, his voice strong," I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan," Firestar finished up,"I give you your warrior name. Julien, from this moment you will be known as Ringtail. StarClan honors your spirit, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

Private watched as Firestar rested his muzzle on Ringtail's head, and the cat licked his shoulder, before stepping back.

Then the Clan started calling the new cats names. "Mousepaw! Shrewpelt! Ringtail!"

Private glanced at his leader, noticing that he looked annoyed, but before he could say anything, he heard something crashing through the undergrowth in the woods up above. He snapped his head up just in time to see Kowalski thrusting through the camp entrance, out of breath.

Firestar pushed through the gathered cats and stood in front of the exhausted looking cat, demanding," What happened?"

Then Private noticed that some of Kowalski's fur was missing on his side and blood was pouring out; he was unsteady on his paws, and he looked up at the leader with scared eyes. "We were ambushed by a fox!"

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

* * *

When he heard what the tall cat said, Skipper pushed between two ThunderClan cats and stood in front of Kowalski. He noticed that he was missing turfs of fur and blood was pouring out of the wounds, dripping onto the ground.

"Where at?" Skipper asked him, and he was aware that Firestar glanced at him, but he didn't have time for the ThunderClan leader. His teammate was attacked and he was ready to take action!

"I think we were near the ShadowClan border," Kowalski said, laying down as if he was too tired to stand any longer. He was breathing heavily, but his voice was steady as he meowed," We were hunting and then Dovewing heard something coming for us. We need to hurry and send a patrol or the fox will kill them!"

Firestar nodded and started calling warriors names, ordering them to go help their Clanmates. Skipper stepped forward and meowed," I'm going too."  
The ThunderClan cat turned to the black-and-white tom and shook his head. "No," he meowed. "You haven't had any proper training yet. One training section isn't anything," he added when Skipper was about to protest. Then he sighed and meowed more gently," Please stay here, Skipper. We'll help your friends and bring them back safely."

Knowing he had no choice but to agree, Skipper nodded and padded to Kowalski; he noticed that the cat had been watching his leader argue with the ThunderClan cat.

"Come on," Skipper meowed, helping Kowalski to his paws. "Let's get you to Jayfeather." He helped the cat across the clearing, glancing over his shoulder as Firestar led a rescue patrol out of the camp. Private followed Skipper to Jayfeather's den, and as Skipper pasted the newly named cats, he noticed them watching the cats walk by, but they were the last cats Skipper wanted to talk to right now.

When he got to the medicine den, he called a greeting to Jayfeather, and after a few moments the gray tom pushed his way out of the den, grumbling that he couldn't get any peace lately. Then he spotted Kowalski. "Not another intruder, I hope?" the cat asked, turning to Skipper, who shook his head, slightly annoyed at the accusing tone in his voice.

"His patrol was ambushed by a fox!" Skipper informed the grumpy old tom, ready to defend his teammate if he needed to. He saw suspicion flash in the cat's eyes, and he wondered if he said anything wrong, but the tom didn't replied to him; he just walked to his medicine supplies and returned. He began to work on fixing up Kowalski as Skipper sat beside his teammate with his tail wrapped around his paws.

As soon as Jayfeather was done fixing his wounds, Skipper was going to ask him if he had found a way to get them home. The sooner they got home, the better. It seemed the longer they stay here, they more at risks they will become of dying. He sighed. Then he felt something on his shoulder. He was about to kick out and slice whoever touched him, but then he realize it was only Private.

"Can we talk, Skippah?" he asked, and the leader nodded; he padded out of the den, glancing over his shoulder at the two cats in the den. He saw Jayfeather pressing cobwebs onto Kowalski's wound, then he looked down at his own slowly healing wounds, telling himself that he was a good medicine cat and that he'll take care of his friend.

Once they found a place in the camp where they were sure they couldn't be overheard, Private turned to his leader. "I'm starting to doubt that Kowalski will ever get us home," he confessed, sighing. "I'm home sick, Skippah."

Skipper rested his tail on the cat's shoulder. "I know, young private," he murmured. "But we have to keep faith. I'm gonna ask him if he's thought of any ways of getting us home when Jayfeather's done looking at him." He glanced at the medicine den, before turning back to the youngest member of the team.

He could still see doubt in his eyes, but all he did was nod. Skipper wanted to say more, but he snapped his mouth shut when he noticed the newly named Ringtail walking to him. He was aware of himself glaring him, but he didn't care. He was very annoyed at the used to be king for asking Firestar if they could join the Clan, even after he told them that he shouldn't. Mousepaw and Shrewpelt was right behind them, looking proud to be part of the Clan.

"Hey," the ring tail cat meow calmly, sitting in front of Skipper and Private.

Private meowed a friendly greeting, but Skipper continued to glare at the cats. Shrewpelt sighed and meowed," I'm sorry, Skipper, but it was what the king wanted. And besides," he added," it's actually really nice here. In a way it remains me of our home back in Madagascar."

Skipper flicked his ears in surprised. "How?"

Shrewpelt lifted his eyes. "The trees," he explained. "There's a lake, not anything like the big ocean of course. And I really wasn't comfortable in the big city and around humans..."

Before Skipper could reply, little Mousepaw started running around in circles. "I love it here! And before Lionblaze left to go fight that fox he told me I'm gonna learn all kinds of new stuff, like fighting and hunting!"

Skipper just rolled his eyes. _Whatever, _he murmured, finding himself staring in the direction of the medicine den. _I'm ready to get home! Please, Kowalski, find us a way to get home!_

Then he heard meows across the clearing, and he looked up to see the patrol returning. He jumped to his paws, running over to meet them; he was aware that his friends were behind him. Firestar was in the lead and he came to a halt as Skipper came racing up, one thing on his mind.

"Where's Rico?" he demanded.

There was triumph in his eyes as he stared down at the cat. "Don't worry," he purred. "He's coming. We scared that fox right out of our tertiary!" he added, sounding proud of himself and his Clanmates as the rest of the patrol appeared through the entrance. "I'm sure we won't have a problem with it in the future."

Brambleclaw shouldered his way pasted a couple of ThunderClan warriors. "But should we send a patrol to ShadowClan since it crossed the border? They should know there is a fox in their territory."

"Yeah, but will they thank us for the information?" meowed another cat.

Firestar thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, Brambleclaw, take a patrol of three cats, no more," he meowed as if the other cat didn't speak. "Don't cross the border. Wait til you see a patrol and warn them."

Brambleclaw nodded and called two more warriors: Thornclaw and Graystripe. Then they vanished into the thorn barrier.

The whole time while the ThunderClan cats were talking Skipper glanced around for Rico, and he finally found him in the back. He ran to his teammate, thankful to see that he was still in one piece. In fact, other than fur missing from his shoulder and dry blood above his eye, he seemed unharmed. Skipper wanted to make sure though.

"Are you okay, solider?" he whispered to him, and Rico nodded, excitement in his eyes. He got in a crouch and then lifted his paw, leashing out, claws sheathed. Then he jumped back up, running in circles. Skipper watched, amused. He couldn't remember the last time he saw that battle hungry look in Rico's eyes.

Private joined the two friends. "I just checked on Kowalski," he told his leader. "He's doing fine. Jayfeather isn't in his den if you want to go talk to him."

Nodding, Skipper led his two friends to the medicine den. Kowalski was curled up in a nest, looking at the floor of the den. He looked up when his friends entered. Skipper was surprised to see sadness in his eyes.

"What's wrong, Kowalski?" he asked. "Are you in pain?" He sat in front of his friend, Private and Rico flanking him on either side of him.

The tall cat pushed himself up, grunting with the effect. He shook his head. "No," he said, and Skipper could tell that he was lie, but he decided to let that past since it seemed like something else was on his mind.

"Then what is it?" the leader asked, gently.

Kowalski sighed, looking down. "I don't know how to get us home."

"You'll figure it out," Private urged. "You just have to keep trying."

Suddenly Kowalski's eyes flashed with anger. "Don't be so stupid, Private!" he snapped. "Look around! Without my inventions, without any man made things, we are screwed!" He sighed and fell back onto his nest as if his legs couldn't hold him anymore. "I certainly can't built a machine to get us home."

Skipper looked down at the defeated strategist, wishing there was something he could do to reassure him, but deep down, he knew he was right. He looked down at his paws. "That's it then," he murmured. "We are gonna be stuck here forever. We are never gonna see our friends again." Anger boiled up inside him when a thought hit him. "When someone like Blowhole or Hans surfaces there's nothing we can do about it!" He dug his claws into the earth.

"But–But we can't just be stuck here!" Private tried to protest, but Skipper glared at him, making the young cat shut his mouth.

Glancing at Rico, Skipper saw him looking at the ground with deep sadness in his eyes and whimpering a little as if he wanted to just melt away. Skipper turned back to Kowalski, too anger now to think straight. "You just _had _to make that machine, didn't you?" he demanded, glaring down at the cat.

Before Kowalski could replied, there was a meow coming from the direction of the medicine den entrance, and all four cats turned to see Jayfeather looking at them with deep confusion in his eyes. He padded over to them and asked," What are all of you talking about?"

* * *

**Please review! No flames please!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

* * *

Private spun around and saw the ThunderClan medicine cat padding toward them with confusion in his eyes. _Oh no! _He thought. _How much did he hear? _He glanced at his leader and saw fear on his face as he stood up to confront the cat. _Please let us be able to explain this without telling him who we really are! _Private wasn't sure who he was praying to, but he didn't really care. If the Clan's warriors ancestors were watching over them, maybe they will try to protect their true identities. Or would they tell their descendants the truth?

"We were trying to figure out where to go from here," Skipper explained, and Private was surprised to see how calm he seemed. "We are lost and not sure how to get to our next home."

Jayfeather eyed the cat with deep suspicion. "You said you were stuck here," he pointed out. Before the others could speak, he added," Think before you speak." He narrowed his eyes.

Skipper just looked at the cat, and Private wondered if he knew what to say.

The ThunderClan cat sat down, wrapping his tail around his paws. Private shivered when his eyes looked at the four of them as if he could see them, but he knew the tom was blind. "You aren't from here, are you?" he asked, looking at the cats. "You aren't even _cats."_

The team glanced at each other. "What makes you think that?" Skipper demanded, clearly not wanting to tell the tom he was right til he knew how he knew so much.

"The night before you arrived," the ThunderClan cat meowed," I had a dream. I spoke to a cat from StarClan. She told me 'Four will arrive in black-and-white; they will not be from this world, but you must welcome them into the Clan.' She said you had special skills that will show useful for future battles."

Skipper narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you are meowing about ThunderClan cat," he began," but we are just ordinary cats trying to find a place to settle."

Jayfeather dipped his head. "If you say so," he murmured. "But the StarClan cat said if the four allow us to use their skills they will be able to return home."

The team glanced at each other; Private could see uncertainly in Kowalski's eyes, but Rico looked excitement, while Skipper just looked ready to get home. He still looked unsure if he wanted to tell the ThunderClan cat that they weren't really cats though. He just nodded and said," We do have a few useful skills. I have no idea what you are meowing about, but perhaps we could help your Clan learn a few skills."

The ThunderClan cat just dipped his head and walked out of the den.

"I hope we aren't here for too much longer," Kowalski murmured, digging his claws into the earth. "I miss inventing." He looked up at Skipper. "Jayfeather told me to rest here for the day."

Nodding, the leader meowed a goodbye to Kowalski, and he and Rico left the den. Private stayed for a moment longer. He glanced down at Kowalski, sighing. "Do you think what Jayfeather said was true?" he asked.

Kowalski looked up, surprised. "Why wouldn't it be? He has no reason to lie to us."

Even through Private knew he was right, he still felt a little uneasy. "It just feels weird having a prophecy about us."

Rolling his eyes, Kowalski murmured," Whatever gets us home. I don't believe in dead cats watching over the Clan, but maybe Jayfeather made something to get us back home. He just doesn't want to admit it for some reason so he just made up the story of spirit cats and omens..."

Private shrugged, not wanting to get into the whole imagining thing with Kowalski again. He walked out of the den and spotted his two friends. They were choosing something off the fresh-kill pile. He joined them, and they all eat together in silence. Private wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to believe Jayfeather, but something deep inside him told him that he couldn't believe it til he saw it himself.

The sun started going down and Private fought back a yawn. He felt Skipper nudging him to his paws. "Come, young private," he meowed. "Bedtime."

As they pasted the camp entrance, Private glanced at it and guessed that Brambleclaw and his patrol had returned. When they got to the den, he curled up beside his leader and was plunged into sleep.

He felt the wind and the grass prickling him. He opened his eyes, shocked to see that he was in a wide, open field. He stumbled to his feet, shaking his head. Then he realize something. He wasn't a cat anymore! _I'm a penguin again! _He started dancing around happily, feeling his face with his flippers. But how was this possible?

"You're dreaming."

Startled, Private spun and gasped when he saw a cat sitting only inches away from him. She had stars in her pelt, and when she got up and started walking toward him, Private saw that her feet barely touched the ground. She stopped when she stood in front of him, her eyes like tiny moons. Her voice was soft, and Private felt a chilly shiver run down his spine, even though a warm breeze flattened the grass.

"W-Who are you?" he stammered, backing away from the starry cat.

The blue-fur cat dipped her head. "My name is Bluestar," she meowed, her voice full of authority. "And I belong to StarClan."

_StarClan! _Suddenly Private noticed lots of cats going by, some chasing prey, while others casually walked by without even noticing the penguin. Every single one of them had stars in their pelt just like Bluestar. He watched as a black she-cat ran by in the pursuit of a squirrel. Another StarClan cat called to one of their Clanmates, who turned around and went to them. Private blinked, not believing what he saw, but here it was: StarClan, the Clan's warriors ancestors.

He turned back to Bluestar. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked. "And why am I a penguin?"

The cat prickled her ears in surprised. "Aren't you really a penguin?" she asked. "In the dreaming world, it allows us to see your true form. Don't be scared, Private. You and your friends will return home some day, but for now the Clan needs you."

"Some day?" The private sighed when he heard what the StarClan cat said. "So you don't mean any time soon?"

Bluestar shrugged. "We can't be for sure," she confessed. "The future is in shadows, even to us." She opened her mouth as if she was about to add something, but just then a yowl sounded from across the field, and Private spun around to see a dark gray she-cat running toward them, a hard look on her face. She stopped in front of Bluestar, ignoring Private.

"What do you think you are doing, Bluestar?" she demanded. "You shouldn't have brought him here! Jayfeather already told him and his friend about the prophecy. All they had to do was decide if they wanted to believe in it or not!"

Bluestar glared at the old cat. "I couldn't just sit back and let the cats leave without helping the Clan, Yellowfang!" she hissed.

"Leave where, Bluestar?" she pointed out. "They wouldn't have gotten far! They would have realize that the only way to get home was to help ThunderClan!"

Private blinked. Leave? _Was Skipper thinking about leaving without helping the Clan, without trying to do everything they can to get home?_

Snorting, Bluestar flicked her tail. "It's too late now," she growled. She pushed past Yellowfang and stared up at Private. "Please stay and help ThunderClan. Teach them what you know. Show them your fighting skills. Then I promise you can go home."

"But how do we know you can really take us home?" Private objected, but he noticed that Bluestar and Yellowfang was beginning to fad. "No!" he called to them. "Please stay and tell me more!" But it was too late. He found himself waking up in the warriors' den. He glanced around. Skipper was sound asleep next to him, while Rico was curled up in the nest beside them. He was about to put his head back down, but then he noticed yellow eyes staring at him through the darkness.

"What?" he whispered to Ringtail, who just flicked his ears and shrugged. He didn't say anything and just curled up beside Shrewpelt; Mousepaw had to sleep in the apprentices den, but since Skipper and others came, a few other warriors agreed to sleep in there as well, including Lionblaze.

Private watched until Ringtail's breathing showed that he was back asleep; then he curled up into a ball and closed his eyes, imaging himself as a penguin and back in New York with his friends again, but when he finally got back to sleep he didn't dream again.

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

* * *

"We need to figure out what we are gonna to do," Skipper announced as he paced in front of his team. They were able to sneak away from the from the Clan and go into the woods. Now they sat in a clearing, discussing what happened yesterday. Rico watched as his leader stopped in front of Kowalski, who insisted in coming with them. He saw that his wounds on his side was healing nicely, thanks to Jayfeather. "Do you think we can believe what that ThunderClan cat said?"

Before Kowalski replied, Private spoke up. "I think we can." All eyes turned to the young cat, and Skipper walked to him til their muzzles almost touched.

"How can you be so sure?" he demanded.

Private shifted his paws, not meeting his leader's eyes, and it was several moments before he replied. Rico could see that he was trying to decide something, until finally he lifted his head and told his leader," I had a dream last night."

Rico saw Skipper's eyes narrow. "What kind of dream?" he asked, and the psychopath knew his leader well enough to know that he believes dreams were just dreams.

Private swallowed, glancing at the other two members of the team as if they could help him, before returning his gaze on Skipper. "A StarClan cat visited me in my sleep," he finally replied. "She told me–"

"A StarClan cat!" Kowalski snorted, rolling his eyes. "Now they have the private believing in their fairy tails!" He quieted down when Skipper glared at him.

"Let him finish," the leader growled, turning back to Private. "Continue." He sat in front of him, wrapping his tail around his paws neatly as if he was interested in what the young cat had to say. Rico prickled his eyes; he wanted to hear what Private was about to say too.

Private took a deep breath. "She said the Clan needs our help," he explained, his tail moving back and forth. "She said that we will return home one day, but not until after we help the Clan." He sighed. "I tried to ask her how I can be sure we will really return home, but she started to fad and I woke up." He dug his claws in the earth, and Rico was surprised to see annoyance in his eyes, but it vanished and he blinked innocently up at their leader, who was deep in thought.

Then Kowalski snorted, as if he didn't believe a word Private said. "What you had was nothing more than a dream," he said. "I still don't believe there's a way to get home. We are stuck here forever so we might as well ask Firestar if we can join and have Clan names ourselves."  
Skipper snapped his head around and glared at the smart cat. "Never," he hissed. "Even if there is no way to get home and we have to stay with the Clan, I don't want a Clan name." He raked his gaze over his team, and they all ducked their heads. "This prophecy is the only clue we have that we _can _get home, so we have to go with it. We have to show ThunderClan show of our fighting techniques so they can defend themselves and hopefully we can go home then." He turned to Private. "Did this StarClan cat say when we'd be able to go home?"

Private shook his head, and Rico saw sadness in his eyes. "She said the future is in shadows even to them."

Rico blinked in confusion. _What was the point of warriors ancestors watching over the Clan if they couldn't see into the future?_

"Then how does she know about the prophecy?" Kowalski asked, belief obvious in his eyes. "All this doesn't make any sense to me."

Private just shrugged. "We just have to keep faith." Skipper murmured an agreement, but Rico could see doubt and even fear in his eyes.

Then the wind started picking up and Rico glanced into the trees just as droplets started falling to the earth. Quickly the cats got to their paws, running into the forest and to the ThunderClan camp before the storm got too bad. Rico noticed that Kowalski was falling behind because of his injuries, so he slowed his paced til he matched the tall cat's. Kowalski glanced at him but said nothing as the team hurried through the woods.

Finally they spotted the camp and when they pushed through the entrance, Rico saw ThunderClan cats rushing to their dens to get out of the storm. By this time, the rain was coming down harder, and Rico was soaked to the bone. He grumbled under his breath, cold and miserable. He followed his friends as they ran across the clearing, his head down so the rain doesn't get in his eyes.

As soon as they got to the warriors den, a flash of lightening lit up the sky, making Rico jump. He glanced up, narrowing his eyes through the pouring down rain. He felt something behind him and then Skipper was pushing him through the entrance of the den.

It was drier in the den, since the roof kept out most of the rain. Rico looked around at all the warriors; they were curled up in their nests, looking out at the unexpected rain fall. Rico sat beside his friends, shivering from the cold. He glanced around the den, but he couldn't see Ringtail or Shrewpelt. A little confused, he turned to his leader, who was talking to Private.

He tried to squeak out the words 'Ringtail', but only a mewling sound came out. The leader turned to Rico and asked," What is it, Rico?"

But before Rico could try speaking again, Private asked," Where's Ringtail and Shrewpelt?" He looked around the den at the other warriors.

A few of the shrugged.

"I thought they went on a hunting patrol," someone meowed. "But all the hunting patrol came back ages ago. I haven't seen them since this morning though. Same with Mousepaw."

Rico heard a growl forming in Skipper's throat. "Those three don't know how to behave," he hissed to his team. "I was actually beginning to think that Ringtail change, but I guess not." He glanced up, shaking his head as raindrops landed on his head. "We can't find them in this weather though. We have to wait it out."

Rico sighed and laid back down. He then noticed that Dovewing was watching them. It was a few moments til she came over to them. "Your friends are missing?" she meowed, looking down at them. "Do you need help finding them?"

Skipper got to his paws and looked at the ThunderClan cat; Rico thought he was going to refuse her help, but he was surprise when heard a purr deep in his throat. "You can help if you want to," he meowed, moving closer to her.

The she-cat had laughter in her eyes. "Come on," she meowed. "I have really good ears and eyes! I can probably hear or see them for miles!" She ran out of the den, and Skipper was about to follow her, but Kowalski walked in front of him.

"What happened to waiting til the storm is over?" he asked the leader, looking him over. He obviously knew the same thing Rico did: their leader had feelings for the gray she-cat.

Skipper blinked at Kowalski. "You heard her," he said. "She has really good ears and eyes. She said she can see or hear stuff for miles!" The leader tried to go around Kowalski but the tall cat blocked his way. Rico and Private stood back, knowing this was between the two cats.

"That's impossible, Skipper," Kowalski said.

Skipper sighed, glancing behind him at the warriors, who were watching the screen. "We can't discuss this now, Kowalski," he hissed. "We'll talk about it later. Now come on!" He pushed past Kowalski and out into the storm.

Glancing at Private and Kowalski, then shrugging, Rico decided to follow his leader. He noticed that Dovewing had waited for them. "I was starting to think you changed your mind," she meowed, rubbing her tail across Skipper's spine.

Skipper shook his head. "Of course not," he meowed. "Lead the way." Rico noticed that the leader didn't even wait to see if the other two followed them out of the den; he started padding after Dovewing like a kit would follow its mother. Rico sighed with relief when his friends emerged into the open, and they chased after the ThunderClan cat and Skipper.

Once in the forest, Dovewing prickled her ears and Rico watched as she looked all around her as if she could really hear for miles. But he remember Kowalski saying that was impossible. Finally the gray she-cat meowed," This way," and led them away from the lake, Rico noticed. He had been here once on patrol, where the ThunderClan cats explained the territory didn't belong to any Clan. So why was she taking them in this direction? Surely Ringtail and the others wouldn't go this way?  
It was hard to see in the rain and Rico couldn't smell anything, so all they could do was relay on Dovewing, believing that she was taking them to their friends.

Rico glanced around, seeing shadows everywhere even though it was still early afternoon.

Suddenly the wind stopped, and Rico prickled his ears. Was that yowling? It sounded so familiar...

"Ringtail!" Skipper gasped.

"And Shrewpelt and Mousepaw!" added Private. "They sound like they are in trouble!"

Quickly the cats ran on in the blinding rain, coming to a halt when the ThunderClan scent hit their nose. But that wasn't what made them stop. They watched in horror as three cats surrounded Ringtail and his subjects. The ring tail cat must have saw them, for he turned to them, and yowled," Help us!"

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

* * *

Scared and not sure what to do, Ringtail backed away from the cats, but they kept they on advancing on him and his friends. He remember suggesting that they should go hunting by themselves to bring back more food for the Clan, but now he realize just how important scent markers can be.

Then he heard someone calling his name, and he looked up. He never felt saw relief to see Skipper and the others. "Help us!" he called to them, and he heard the fright in his own voice. The three cats turned around to see the five cats running toward them. Now they were outnumber, and Ringtail saw their eyes widen in surprise.

"Retreat!" he heard one of them order, and all three one of them spun around, vanishing into the driving rain.

Ringtail blinked after them, wondering who they were. Then the other cats were beside him. He noticed Dovewing was with Skipper and the others; she too was looking in the direction of the retreating cats, her ears twitching. "Just a bunch of loners," she murmured. "They didn't belong to any Clan."

"Are you sure?" Skipper asked, turning to her, and she nodded.

"They ran further into unknown territory," she explained. "But we should still tell Firestar there's a bunch of loners causing trouble. We might have to end up dealing with it, like ShadowClan had to deal with kittypets in their territory when we first came here."

Ringtail shook his pelt, but it was no use. The rain was still coming down, and he soaked to the bone. He wished he and his friends just went back to camp with the patrol.

Then he saw Kowalski snorting. "Can we please get out of this rain before all of us catch colds?"

Dovewing glance at him, before nodded. She led the way back to camp. Ringtail walked in the back of the group beside Shrewpelt and Mousepaw. He looked down, blinking against the rain. He realized that it seemed to be lightening up at last, and be the time the camp came into view only a light drizzle showered the forest.

The cats pushed through the entrance of the camp, and Ringtail glanced around, noticing that the camp was emptied. He guessed all the cats were in their dens, trying to get out of this weather. He followed everyone else across to the warriors den. He stepped aside as Dovewing, Skipper, and his team went into the den. Then he felt Shrewpelt nudged him.

"Let's join Mousepaw in the apprentices' den," he whispered and there was a sad look in eyes. Ringtail wanted to ask him what was wrong, but suddenly Mousepaw ran under Ringtail's feet, making the cat stumble. The older cat glared down at the apprentice, but in the end he just nodded at what Shrewpelt said and led the way to the apprentices' den.

Once in the den, Ringtail shook his pelt. He noticed Shrewpelt jumping back to avoid the spray of the water. He watched as Mousepaw ran to a nest, circling the leaves and bracken, before diving into them and curling up. Ringtail could see the little creature shivering, and before he could stop himself he walked over to him and wrapped his body around him. Even though he was soaked to the bone, he hoped that all the warmth he had left in his body could get to the small apprentice.

Soon he felt the breathing of Mousepaw get swallower, telling Ringtail that he was asleep. He glanced down at the brown cat and felt a faint purr deep in his throat. He wrapped himself tighter around the helpless little creature, silently cussing himself for putting him into danger earlier.

"Your Majesty?"

Lifting his head, Ringtail narrowed his eyes so he could see through the darkness of the den. He spotted Shrewpelt looking at him with wide, confused eyes. The gray tom padded toward him, pointing to Mousepaw. "Why are you being nice to him?" he asked. "I thought you hated him."

Ringtail sighed and stared down at Mousepaw, not sure how he felt about the little creature, but he knew hate wasn't the word. "No, Shrewpelt," he told the cat, turning back to him. "I don't know what it is with this strange new world, but ever since coming here, it's changed me. It's opened my eyes. I don't hate Mousepaw, and I want to do anything I can to help my new Clan." Suddenly guilt swept over him, and he looked down. "That's why I wanted to go hunting before returning home," he explained. "I wanted to being back enough food to make Firestar proud of us. But instead," he went on, glancing down at Mousepaw," I almost got us all killed."

Shrewpelt ran his tail across Ringtail's spine and used his paw to lift his friend's head til their eyes met. "You don't know if those cats would have killed us," he told him. "They might have only just gave us a few scratches to warn us to stay off their territory." But Ringtail could see that he didn't believe that. "What really matters, though, is that we got away without being hurt."

Ringtail knew he was right, but he still felt guilty that Mousepaw could have died today. He sighed and looked back down at the apprentice, watching his chest rise and fall as he slept. _I promise, Mousepaw, _he thought, wrapping himself tightly around him again, _to protect __you__ even if it means I lose my life._

* * *

The storm lasted for most of the afternoon, but finally the rain stopped and the clouds cleared, letting the sun shine down on the forest. Raindrops fell from leaves as Ringtail pushed out of the apprentices' den, shaking his soaked fur. He glanced around, noticing that most of the warriors were out now; they all gathering around the fresh-kill pile. He glanced behind him as Mousepaw and Shrewpelt joined him in the clearing.

He led the way to where all the cats were at. As he drew closer, he noticed Dovewing was talking to Firestar, and his tail dropped. He knew she was telling the ginger leader where she and the others had found him and his subjects during the storm.

As he approached, Firestar turned to him and meowed," So Dovewing tells me you had an encounter with three loners." His gazes swept over Ringtail and the two cats behind him, and Ringtail wish he could just vanish, but he stood up straight as he faced his new leader.

"It's true," he meowed, dipping his head. "I wanted us to go hunting by ourselves, but when we were chasing a squirrel we accidentally crossed the scent markers. By the time we noticed, cats had surrounded us. We were very lucky for Dovewing, and Skipper, and the others."

Firestar nodded. "I'd say." He dipped his head to Dovewing, who did the same and padded away. "Now," he continued, turning back to Ringtail," I want you to train with Lionblaze for the rest of the day." He pointed his tail across the clearing, and Ringtail glanced over his shoulder to see the golden tabby making his way over to them. "Skipper and the others are training with some more of our warriors," he went on, and Ringtail suddenly realize he couldn't see his other friends.

_They must be out in the forest already, _he decided, just as Lionblaze arrived beside his leader, nodding a welcome to the new members of the Clan.

He and the others followed Lionblaze as he led them into the forest. Once they were away from the camp, Lionblaze started to lead them to the lake. "Today we are gonna learn some battle moves," he explained, jumping over a falling log, leaving the others to stumble after him. "Sooner or later we have to do tree training," he went on.

"What exactly is that?" Shrewpelt asked, panting as he tried to keep up with the ThunderClan cat.

Suddenly Lionblaze came to a halt and looked up at a tree, pointing at the branches. "Firestar likes his warriors to be ready for anything," he explained. "We recently started training our cats to climb trees and jump from them, landing onto enemies to confuse them and start dealing hits before they know what's going on!" He looked really proud of his Clan for coming up with such a great battle strategy.

Ringtail just blinked at him. _Are they cats or lemurs? _he asked himself, but he didn't want to ask Lionblaze in case he never heard of a lemur. In the end, he just nodded and said," That sounds very effective."

A purr escaped Lionblaze's throat. Then he turned around and started walking away. "Come on!" he called, and the others chased after him.

Finally they left the trees behind and stood on the beach with the lake in front of them. "Skipper and the other warriors had to take the training clearing, so we can train here." He sat down and wrapped his tail around his paws. "Okay, we'll try something simple. The duck and twist. Mousepaw," he called to the young apprentice, who ran to his mentor immediately. "When I try to attack you, you duck, twist around, roll onto your back, then spring back to your paws. Got it?"

Mousepaw nodded, his eyes wide with excitement, but when Lionblaze spring forward, the little cat's paws got tingled when he tried to twist instead of ducking first, and Lionblaze collided with him. The two cats sat up, groaning.

Ringtail and Shrewpelt ran to them; they seemed unharmed, though.

"What happened, Mousepaw?" Lionblaze asked, clearly trying not to snap at the young apprentice, who was new to the whole Clan thing after all.

Mousepaw shrugged. "I forgot to duck. Oops." He giggled. "Sorry."

Ringtail sighed. "Can I try it instead?" he asked Lionblaze, pushing Mousepaw aside before Lionblaze could snap at him. "Maybe if he saw how it was done, he'll know what to do."

The ThunderClan cat nodded and crouched down, ready to pounce on Ringtail, who was ready to try the move Lionblaze showed them, but suddenly an unknown voice called out. "Hey, Lionblaze!"

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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The clearing was full of activity: cats jumping on each other or stalking. Skipper sat on the side of the clearing, with his team, watching the progress they showed. He watched as Icecloud took a mighty leaped over Berrynose, who tried to bring her back down to the earth, but the white she-cat landed behind him without him touching her. Then she spun around without thinking and grabbed his tail, dragging him to her and pinning him down. Skipper knew if he was a real enemy, he would be running for the bushes by now.

He was aware of Kowalski shifting beside him. "I don't like this," he murmured. "We are giving these cats our secrets, Skipper." He turns his gaze on his leader, and he was surprised to see a pleading look in them. "What if they are just playing us? What if they are just saying they can get us home just so we can give them our secrets?"

For a moment fear flashed in Skipper, but he pushed it away. "These cats aren't our enemies, Kowalski," he told his second-in-command firmly. "They let us into their home and they let us eat their food. They are our friends."

"He's right, Kowalski," Private agreed. "And if there is just the slightest hope of us getting home, shouldn't we try everything we can do to get back?"

Rico nodded and murmured an agreement.

Skipper still could see that Kowalski wasn't convinced that these cats were their friends though. He sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do to try to show the tall cat that ThunderClan was their friends.

He glanced up when he heard someone calling his name. Brambleclaw was walking to him. "Hey guys," he meowed. "Where did you ever come up with all these great battle moves? I'm not sure if we can do a couple of them, but that jump and drag move...brilliant!"

Skipper suddenly felt embarrassed at the ThunderClan's deputy's words. "It just came to us," he explained. "We like to experiment our fighting techniques to see if we can come up with anything new. It comes in handy jumping from place to place." He didn't know if Jayfeather told the other members of ThunderClan that they weren't really cats, but he didn't want them to risk finding out if he didn't. They haven't even talked to the medicine cat since he told them about the prophecy.

Brambleclaw dipped his head. "Yeah, I can understand that," he meowed. "Around here we always have to be prepared, never knowing where danger is going to come next. ShadowClan is always up to no good, but sometimes WindClan can cause trouble. Luckily we don't have many quarrels with RiverClan since they are on the other side of the lake. But there's also danger from loners and foxes, and badgers. We just have to–"

"B-Bagders?"

Skipper turned just in time to see Private duck behind Rico. The leader sighed and turned back to Brambleclaw. "I'm sorry about that," he meowed. "Private thinks badgers are nothing but wicked creatures who only ever eat meat and will rip your throat out if they see you."

The ThunderClan leader blinked. "You've never met one have you? They've killed many cats," he continued. "In all my life, I've only met one badger who didn't live to kill because she was sent to us from StarClan so we could find this new home when our old home was being destroyed."

A growl made Skipper turn around. "I told you so! Badgers are nothing but trouble!" Private was looking at him around Rico.

"If you see a badger on ThunderClan territory," Brambleclaw went on," you don't attack it. You come straight back to camp and tell Firestar. He'll decide what to do with it, okay?" He stared down at the four cats, who nodded and the deputy walked away to go watch the training again.

"What just happened?" Skipper asked, turning to his team.

"Did we just get into trouble?" Private asked, slowly crawling out from behind Rico. "All I said was badgers are nothing but trouble."

Kowalski just shrugged. "These cats are weird," he murmured. He glanced at his leader. "I hope you know what you are doing."

Skipper opened his mouth, about to replied, but Kowalski went on," Because if you don't, there goes our secrets and our chance of getting home." Snapping his mouth shut, Skipper realize he was right. He looked across the clearing at the cats, who were practicing fighting moves the penguins used the practice when they were still in New York. Then he glanced up at the sky; the sun was starting to go down and a few stars lit up silverpelt. He narrowed his eyes, looking for a sign that StarClan was there, but he saw none.

_Am I doing the right thing? _he wondered.

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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The ThunderClan cat spun around, his fun on end when his name was called. Ringtail looked past him and saw a small brown tabby padding across the beach toward them. Lionblaze relaxed when he saw who it was. The ring tailed cat wanted to ask who it was, but he realize that the cat was in earshot and decided to just wait to find out who it was.

"Greetings, Lionblaze," the small cat meowed, padding up calmly. "How's the prey running?"

"Fine, Littlecloud," the ThunderClan cat replied. "And with you? How are things in ShadowClan?"

Littlecloud dipped his head. "Very well," he meowed. "I came by because I wanted to ask Jayfeather something. He's not busy I hope?" The cat's ears prickled up and he stared up at the ThunderClan cat, who shook his head.

"No, I think he's in the camp," Lionblaze replied. "I'll take you there." He turned back to the others and asked," Is it okay if we cut our lesson short? Medicine cat business tend to be very important."

Ringtail nodded. "It's no big deal," he meowed. He dipped his head to Littlecloud, introducing himself, and then pointing to his two friends. "That's Shrewpelt and Mousepaw. We are new to the Clan."

Littlecloud nodded, understanding in his eyes. "I remember Firestar saying ThunderClan had new cats in their Clan," he murmured. He turned back to Lionblaze and added to him," Can I talk to Jayfeather or not?"

"Of course." The ThunderClan cat dipped his head and turned his paws toward the forest, calling over his shoulder," Follow me."

All the cats fell in behind the golden warrior as he led them into the trees. Ringtail kept glancing at Littlecloud. _So he's a ShadowClan cat? _he wondered. He remembered a few warriors explaining to him that ShadowClan were not to be trusted, that they were dark heart, vicious creatures. But this little creature look like he couldn't hurt a fly. He narrowed his eyes, watching Littlecloud, and wondered what he wanted with his new Clan.

When they got back to the camp, Ringtail looked around, noticing that Skipper and the others were back. He was about to go over there, but he saw a warning glare from the leader of the group. He blinked in confusion and looked down at Shrewpelt, whispering to him," What's their problem?"

The gray tom just shrugged.

Ringtail put Skipper and the others at the back of his head as he watched Lionblaze lead Littlecloud across the clearing, toward the medicine den. He wanted to follow them, but he noticed that the sun was going down and that warriors were heading into their den. He suddenly felt really tired and yawned loudly.

"Come on, Your Majesty," Shrewpelt meowed, much to Ringtail's annoyance; he wasn't their king anymore, but he still called him 'king' and 'Your Majesty'. He was about to tell him to knock it off, but another yawn interrupted him, and he followed Shrewpelt and Mousepaw into the apprentice without saying a word.

He curled up beside the little apprentice with Shrewpelt on the other side of him. Ringtail could feel a purr rising deep in Mousepaw's throat as he sink into sleep. He listened as Shrewpelt drifted into sleep as well. Even though Ringtail kept yawning, it was long til sleep finally found him, and when it did, it was restless and dark, full of voices calling his name. He tried to answer, but he couldn't make any sound in the endless blackness. He felt panic start to raise in his chest.

With a yowl, he lifted his head. He looked around the den and narrowed his eyes. The den was full of shadows so Ringtail couldn't see anything, but he could feel that his friends were still beside him, sound asleep.

Sighing, he got to his paws and pushed out of the entrance of the den. The dream was slowly melting away, along with the confusion and fright. Ringtail glanced around the clearing, but he didn't see anything stir in the darkness. Then he heard voices coming from the other side of the camp, and he turned his head to see Jayfeather leading the way out of his den, closing followed by Littlecloud.

He watched as the two cats touched noses, and Littlecloud murmured his thanks to the ThunderClan cat around a mouthful of leaves.

"Don't hesitant to come back for some more catnip if you need any," Jayfeather called after the departing cat as he padded across the camp.

Ringtail watched him go til he was out of sight. Then he got up and walked over to the medicine den, glancing into the corners of the camp, shivering at the darkness, bring back memories of his dream. He stopped when he got to the entrance of the den, calling out to the medicine cat. It was silent for a moment, until Jayfeather pocked his head out of the den, annoyance sparkling his gaze.

"What do you want?" he demanded, coming out of the den and wrapping his tail neatly around his paws.

Ringtail opened his mouth but no words came out. He wasn't sure why he had came here. There had just been something pulling him toward the medicine den. However now standing here with the blind gray tom staring at him like he _could _see him, he suddenly wish he didn't wander over her. He wish he could just sneak away without Jayfeather noticing. _Would he notice if I just backed up? I mean he can't see..._

A low growl in Jayfeather's throat made Ringtail freeze. "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm stupid!" he snapped. "I can hear you moving away from me!" He suddenly snapped away from the ring tailed cat and turned back to his den. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go to sleep!" He disappeared into the darkness of his den.

Ringtail blinked in surprise. He didn't mean to offend to blind cat. He sighed and walked back to the apprentice den. Maybe he made a mistake of asking Firestar if he could join the Clan. Maybe he acted too hastily when wanted to become part of this new world. It felt like he didn't belong here after all.

Once he was back in the den, he curled up beside Mousepaw again. He noticed the apprentice move in his sleep and murmured something, but he didn't wake up. Sighing, Ringtail manged to caught a glimpse of silverpelt and thought, _Maybe I should talk to Skipper tomorrow and ask him what he thinks, _before sleep claimed him again, this time without dreaming.

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**Please review! No flames please!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

* * *

_I do not like this, _Kowalski thought to himself as he watched two ThunderClan cats size each other up. He had just showed them that they can balance on their hind paws for a few moments as they aimed blows on their opponents. He had trouble standing up right long enough, so he wasn't sure if these cats could do it, but he really didn't care.

He wished Skipper hadn't agreed to showed these cats their secrets. He had tried to warn his leader if it turned out they can't get them home, they knew all their secrets that they can use against them. Skipper, however, refused to listen, insisting that ThunderClan was their friends. Kowalski didn't trust them though.

Narrowing his eyes, he watched as Foxleap used his forepaws to push himself onto his hind paws, towering over Hazeltail. Kowalski could see that he was unsteady and before he could deal any blows, he fell back onto all fours. Satisfaction crashed over Kowalski, but he tried to hide it as he padded over to the two cats.

"Keep trying," he told them. "Once you know how to do the move, you'll have you're enemy so confused, you'll beat them in no time." He swallowed a hiss. He absolutely hated giving out their secrets like this, but Skipper was his leader, and he couldn't disobey him.

He stood back, watching the two ThunderClan cats practicing over and over again. He didn't know how long went by, until he heard something calling his name. He looked around and saw Skipper waving his tail to him. He excused himself and padded over them, sitting in front of the leader. He noticed that Ringtail and his subjects, and even Private and Rico was with Skipper.

Kowalski blinked in confusion. "What is it?" he asked, not meaning to sound so harsh, but he was still annoyed that Skipper was just giving these cats the penguins' secrets.

It wasn't Skipper who answer though; it was Private. "Julien and the others have decided to come back with us, after all!" he cheered, waving his tail in excitement.

Confused, Kowalski turned to the ring tailed cat, but he noticed that he wasn't looking at anyone. He had his eyes firmly glued to the ground. _What made him change his mind? _he wondered.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "I thought we'd have peace and quiet at last," he murmured, then added more seriously," Anyways, when are we going to go home? We kept our promise. We are helping the Clan. We taught them our fighting techniques." He glanced past Kowalski at the two cats who were still practicing the move the tall cat showed them.

"Bluestar said we'll go home when we are finished here," Private spoke up, turning to his leader. "But she said she wasn't sure when that be."

Sighing, the leader rolled his eyes again, but said nothing.

"We just have to have patient, Skippah," Private told him gently, but the leader just snorted.

* * *

Later that day, back at camp, the friends gathered around the fresh-kill pile. Kowalski picked out a squirrel for himself and padded across the clearing to join the rest of his friends. He glanced around the clearing. The some of the warriors were dozing in the sunlight, while others groomed each other. He took a big bite out of his food, then swallowed, before taking another bite.

Suddenly he realize that Jayfeather was padding toward him and his friends. He narrowed his eyes, wondering what the medicine cat what. He had a serious look on his face as he came to a halt in front of them all.

"It's time," he meowed. "You've helped the Clan enough. StarClan has told me it's time to send you home."

Immediately Skipper jumped to his paws and demanded," Well get on with it, ThunderClan cat."

Jayfeather shook his head. "Not here," he meowed, jerking his head across the clearing. "I can't send you home. Star–"

"But you promised that if we helped the Clan you'll send us home!" Private objected, joining his leader and looked pleading at the medicine cat. "Where you lying to us?"

Kowalski was about to say 'I told you so', when Jayfeather shook his head again. "_I _can't send you home," he repeated. "But StarClan can. We have to go to them."

Instantly Julien was on his feet–since he had decided to come home with the others, he had demanded that they called him by his real name again–and he was looking at Jayfeather in awed. "We are going to be seeing StarClan?" he questioned, his eyes wide, and the medicine cat nodded.

"But first," the ThunderClan cat told them," Firestar wants to speak to you all." He took the led as they all crossed the clearing to where the great leader stood by the fresh-kill pile with his deputy. As soon as the leader saw the medicine cat and the others, he nodded and gestured them to join him into the forest.

After saying a quick goodbye to Brambleclaw, Firestar made his way to the woods. Jayfeather walked beside him while the others padded behind them. Kowalski felt uneasy, not sure if they should really trust them, but he knew better than to say that out loud to Skipper. He noticed that the ThunderClan cats were leading them to the lake, and they finally left the trees behind.

The ThunderClan leader turned to the cats and dipped his head to them. "Thank you for everything you've done," he meowed. "You don't understand how much this means to us. Thanks to you we might be able to win many battles in the future."

Kowalski eyed the leader, but kept his mouth shut.

Skipper took a step toward the ginger cat and dipped his head, meowing," It was a pleasure being a part of the Clan for a little bit. We learned a lot and we won't forget you any time soon."

Firestar dipped his head to the black-and-white cat. Then he turned his green gaze on Julien and his subjects, deep sadness in them. "I wish you'd stay," he murmured. "You'd make great warriors." He watched as little Mort ran around and around in circled in attempt to catch his own tail. "Especially this little lively creature."

The ring tailed cat glared down at Mort, and Kowalski thought, _The old Julien is back. _

"My kingdom needs me," he explained to the ThunderClan leader, who nodded, but looked confused.

Kowalski could see Jayfeather getting more impatient by the pasting moment. "Come on!" the blind cat snapped, glancing up at the sky that was growing dark as the sun went down as if he could really see. "We don't have all day. We need to get there before night fall."

The others gathered around Jayfeather and started following him up a hill, toward the area the first patrol found Kowalski and his friends. Kowalski glanced over his shoulders once he was beside the stream and saw a ginger dot on the beach and knew that was Firestar.

_Is this the last time we are going to see each other? _he wondered, and then followed his friends up the hill.

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**Please review! No flame please!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Penguins of Madagascar or Warriors!**

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The climb up the hill was hard, and Kowalski found himself panting as he tried to keep up with his friends. He felt his paws slip into the paw paints of many ancient cats, and he felt a shiver go down his spine. A stream went down the hill, passing the cats, sending endless echos around Kowalski. He shook his head to clear it.

Then he thought he heard something else: a very faint voice. He prickled his ears, trying to recognize it, but it was too quiet. Then there was more voices, too many for him to count. They were all around him. Suddenly he felt bodies brushing against him in the gathering darkness, but in the little light that remain, he saw no cat around him; all his friends were mouse-lengths in front of him.

_What is wrong with me? _he thought. _Am I going crazy?_

Suddenly the small trail opened up to a stone hollow. The cats gathered around and looked in awed at the shiny small pool. Kowalski lifted his gaze to a steep cliff above the pool and saw that it was feeding it water. His mouth gap open, too shock beyond words.

Jayfeather sat in front of the pool, his tail wrapped around his paws. When he spoke, his voice sounded odd, bouncing off the stone of the hollow. "Welcome to the Moonpool. This is where the Clans comes to share tongues with StarClan." He got up and glanced up at the now dark sky, then he nodded down at the cats. "Come forward and lap from the pool. Then StarClan will send you a dream."

No cat moved at first. They glanced at each other, and Kowalski could see his own uncertainly reflecting in his teammate's eyes. Julien stared at the pool in awed, while Mort blinked at it with confused, and Maurice just backed away from it.

Growling, Jayfeather rolled his eyes. "Come on! StarClan's not going to wait all night. Do you want to get home or not?"

Finally Skipper sighed and took a step forward. "I'll go first." He walked over to the pool and laid in front of it, lapping up the water and closing his eyes. Kowalski watched til his leader's breathing slowed down, telling him that he was asleep. Slowly he padded over to join his sleeping teammate, licking the water too and immediately feeling sleepy. He laid down and was plunged into darkness.

Kowalski watched in horror as cat jumped on cat, ripping throats out, clawing out stomachs, howling in pain. He wanted to call to them and tell them to stop, but he was froze where he stood and when he opened his mouth no sound came out. He widen his eyes as cat after cat fell to the ground, their life taken from them in a bloody battle.

He didn't understand. Why where these cats fighting? Why where they fighting so furiously? He wanted to cover his ears from the yowling and howling.

Suddenly the screen in front of him vanished to be replaced with a wide open field. He blinked terrified eyes, expecting the cats to jump out of nowhere and start attacking again. But there was no movement. He looked about him, hoping to see something. Then he realize something.

_I'm a penguin, not a cat?_

He stared down at his flippers, still able to see the horrible screen of cats jumping on each other, ripping the life from a cat with its teeth.

He jumped when he heard his name being called and he was surprised to see Skipper waddling to him. _He was a penguin too..._Kowalski thought, wondering where they were and why they were penguins again and not cats like they were before they fell asleep.

He then noticed two more penguins running to him: Private and Rico. He was very happy to see the team back to together again as penguins, not cats. Skipper looked his boys up and down.

"So are we home?" Skipper asked. "Kowalski, analysis."

The tall penguin opened his beak to replied, but before he could, a voice called out," You're in StarClan!"

The penguins snapped their heads in the direction the voice came from as a blue-furred cat came into view. Kowalski was very surprise to see the lemurs following her.

"Bluestar!" Private exclaimed. Turning to his team, he added," She's that StarClan cat I've been telling you about. You know, the one who said–"  
"Yes, we remember, Private," Skipper snapped, then turned as the StarClan cat stopped in front of them. Julien and his subjects joined the penguins. "What were you doing with her?" he asked them.

"She found us," the king explained, fixing his crown that was about to fall off. "She said that she needed to be talking to all of us before sending us home."

"Yes." Bluestar sat down. "I know it wasn't easy to stay with the Clan as long as you did," she began, and Kowalski heard Skipper murmured," Yeah, tell me about it," but the StarClan cat continued as if she didn't hear the leader penguin. "But I wanted to say thank you very much for everything you've done. Thanks to you, ThunderClan can beat any battle now."

Kowalski stepped forward. "I'm sure there's still battles they can't win," he pointed out. "After all, as cats they really can't do half of the stuff us penguins can do."

Bluestar dipped her head, but Kowalski saw annoyance flash in her eyes. "That may be so, but now they have a bigger advantage. Anyways," she continued before Kowalski could spoke again," I just wanted to thank you. You can go home now."

Kowalski could see that Skipper wanted to see more, but he just then his leader and his friends and even Kowalski himself began to fad. The last thing he remember seeing was Bluestar dipping her head farewell to them.

Dazed, Kowalski sat up, groaning. At first his version was blurry so he couldn't see where he was. When it cleared, he immediately recognized the stone entrance and clock tower. He jumped to his feet, but felt dizzy afterward. He shook his head to clear it and looked around. He was backed at the zoo and his friends were surrounding him, still asleep.

He hurried to his leader and shook him. Skipper woke up and looked at Kowalski. The leader penguin hopped to his feet and a grinned appeared on his face. "Ha! I told you so!" he told the tall penguin. "ThunderClan was our friends!"

Kowalski rolled his eyes, but he suddenly felt guilty for not believing that ThunderClan would really keep their word and being them home.

He heard movement behind him, and he glanced over his shoulders to see Julien getting up. As if to tests his old body, the lemur started randomly dancing. He woke up Maurice and Mort, ordering them to join in his dance. Kowalski thought he heard Maurice say something like he missed ThunderClan already.

While Skipper woke up Private and Rico, Kowalski glanced around the zoo. It looked like they arrived back home on the same day, just later that day, even though they really spent days with ThunderClan.

He narrowed his eyes when he heard someone calling their names. He looked up to see Marlene running to them. "Hey guys!" she called, calling to a halt in front of them. "Where have you been? I've missed you all day."

Skipper exchanged glances with his team, and they all nodded, deciding to keep their little adventure a secret. Kowalski glanced at the lemurs; he saw that Maurice understood but what about Mort and Julien? He didn't have any more time to think about that though.

His leader walked to the otter and threw his flipper around her shoulder, walking her away from the entrance. "That's classified, Marlene," he finally told her.

Marlene glanced at him, then sighed, shrugging. "Whatever," she murmured, letting the leader lead her farther into the zoo.

Kowalski turned to the lemurs, wanting to make sure they understood. "ThunderClan does not exist," he told them, causing Julien to blink at him, but before he could say anything, he added," It was just a dream. StarClan and all that was just a dream. None of it was real. Okay?"

Mort looked up at the tall penguin, before he started bouncing up and down. "Oh it was an awesome dream!" he declared, before running off in the direction of his habitat.

Kowalski turned to Maurice, who nodded in understand and followed Mort.

Lately he looked to Julien, who had a hard look in his eyes. The look vanished when Kowalski turned to him. "It was a dream, okay?" the smart penguin repeated.

Finally the king sighed. "Okay, okay," he said and followed the other lemurs.

Shrugging Kowalski waddled after his leader and Marlene, aware that Private and Rico was right behind him. He was aware of eyes watching him and he turned just in time to see Julien looking at him, before the lemur disappeared into his habitat.

_Oh, please let him be able to keep ThunderClan a secret, _Kowalski thought as he turned to catch up with his friends.

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**Please review! No flames please!**

**The End!**


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